6.041/6.431 Probabilistic Systems Analysis
Spring 2013
Instructors: Babak Ayazifar, Vahid Montazerhodjat, Ligong Wang
TAs: Hajir Hosseini Roozbehani, Anton Aboukhalil, Quan Li
Lecture:
MW 12-1
(34-101)
Recitation 1 (6.041): TR 10-11
(36-155)
Recitation 2 (6.041): TR 11-12
(36-155)
Recitation 3 (6.431): TR 12-1
(36-112)
Office Hours: R 7-9pm
(32-044F)
Information:
Announcements
Grades submitted to Websis
Folk, I'm sorry that Stellar is so rigid that it does not
allow us to display your final course grades to you on
it.
Even creating an "assignment" called "Final Course Grade," in which we would enter a letter grade for you and release it to you to see, is difficult. I'd have to create a score-grade translation chart (e.g., 5.3 maps to A+, 5 maps to A, 4.7 maps to A-, etc., already at variance with how the Registrar computes GPAs, and hence confusing) and then enter a number for your final course grade.
I bypassed it all and submitted your course grades to Websis. I don't know how long it will take before it becomes visible to you. At Berkeley it takes a day, sometimes a bit less.
I'd be curious to know what your humanities and social science instructors do when they give you assignments, such as term papers, which are letter-graded. How do they enter it on Stellar?
Cheers,
Babak.
Even creating an "assignment" called "Final Course Grade," in which we would enter a letter grade for you and release it to you to see, is difficult. I'd have to create a score-grade translation chart (e.g., 5.3 maps to A+, 5 maps to A, 4.7 maps to A-, etc., already at variance with how the Registrar computes GPAs, and hence confusing) and then enter a number for your final course grade.
I bypassed it all and submitted your course grades to Websis. I don't know how long it will take before it becomes visible to you. At Berkeley it takes a day, sometimes a bit less.
I'd be curious to know what your humanities and social science instructors do when they give you assignments, such as term papers, which are letter-graded. How do they enter it on Stellar?
Cheers,
Babak.
Announced on 25 May 2013 1:11 p.m. by Babak Ayazifar
Final Course Grade Visibility
hi folks,
evidently stellar is not displaying your final course grades to you. after some investigation, i have come across a "help" section on stellar that says final course grades are NEVER displayed to students (no matter buttons i toggle).
i'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to impose such a constraint in stellar (we don't have this issue back at our sister site in berkeley). i am not aware of an easy workaround short of creating a new assignment and re-entering everyone's grades there, which is not wise for one person to do.
when we entered your grades in stellar and websis, we had at least two staff members watching over each other's shoulders to ensure no grade is entered incorrectly. even then we double-checked the entered grades.
i've consulted the staff and will see what they'll say. ultimately, it might be that i have to click on the buttons on websis and submit the official grades, so you can see the grades on websis.
bear with me, please. thanks for your patience.
babak.
evidently stellar is not displaying your final course grades to you. after some investigation, i have come across a "help" section on stellar that says final course grades are NEVER displayed to students (no matter buttons i toggle).
i'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to impose such a constraint in stellar (we don't have this issue back at our sister site in berkeley). i am not aware of an easy workaround short of creating a new assignment and re-entering everyone's grades there, which is not wise for one person to do.
when we entered your grades in stellar and websis, we had at least two staff members watching over each other's shoulders to ensure no grade is entered incorrectly. even then we double-checked the entered grades.
i've consulted the staff and will see what they'll say. ultimately, it might be that i have to click on the buttons on websis and submit the official grades, so you can see the grades on websis.
bear with me, please. thanks for your patience.
babak.
Announced on 25 May 2013 10:04 a.m. by Babak Ayazifar
Your Final Course Grade
hi gang,
i've now released your final course grades on
stellar. please read our statement on your final course
grade (essential reading). it is found in the General section
of our stellar site.
by the middle of next week, please check your websis grades to verify that they are entered as they have been on stellar. we double-checked, but you should check one more time.
have a wonderful summer.
cheers,
babak.
Announced on 25 May 2013 1:15 a.m. by Babak Ayazifar
IMPORTANT: Online Course Evaluations (deadline extended)
hi folks,
according to the count of the e-mails i've received so far (discounting double e-mails from some of you), 60 of you have claimed your 5 points on the midterms by sending me the affirmation that you have filled the course survey. however, the online stats show that 62 of you have filled out the surveys. that means two of you have not claimed your 5 points.
please note that your course survey affirmation e-mail is separate from your self-evaluation e-mail. it is NOT sufficient for you to tell me in some corner of your self-evaluation e-mail that you've also filled out the survey. please follow the instructions below to submit your course survey e-mail affirmation. and be sure to put your first and last names in the subject line.
also, we are now at 87% yield (62 out of 71 students registered for the course for credit). let's cross the 90% mark. we can do it!
i'll extend the deadline for the course survey e-mails to this friday at noon. follow the instructions below to send me your affirmation after you've filled out the survey.
you've pulled through really well this semester. let's give this one last push.
thanks a bunch, and cheers,
babak.
_______
Resending yesterday's announcement.
If you haven't done this yet, please take care of it today by the deadline of 6pm. Thanks. _______
according to the count of the e-mails i've received so far (discounting double e-mails from some of you), 60 of you have claimed your 5 points on the midterms by sending me the affirmation that you have filled the course survey. however, the online stats show that 62 of you have filled out the surveys. that means two of you have not claimed your 5 points.
please note that your course survey affirmation e-mail is separate from your self-evaluation e-mail. it is NOT sufficient for you to tell me in some corner of your self-evaluation e-mail that you've also filled out the survey. please follow the instructions below to submit your course survey e-mail affirmation. and be sure to put your first and last names in the subject line.
also, we are now at 87% yield (62 out of 71 students registered for the course for credit). let's cross the 90% mark. we can do it!
i'll extend the deadline for the course survey e-mails to this friday at noon. follow the instructions below to send me your affirmation after you've filled out the survey.
you've pulled through really well this semester. let's give this one last push.
thanks a bunch, and cheers,
babak.
_______
Resending yesterday's announcement.
If you haven't done this yet, please take care of it today by the deadline of 6pm. Thanks. _______
Hi folks,
As I mentioned in the last two lectures, we will add 5 points to the lower of your last two midterm scores, if you complete the online course evaluation survey for 6.041/6.431 (whichever one applies to your registration status).
This is honor system driven. We do not have even an iot of desire to police this.
We ask of you the following.
(a) That you NOT go on a "clicking spree" to complete the survey;
(b) that you give each question on the survey due consideration and provide answers to the best of your knowledge; and
(c) That you provide as much freestyle answers and comments on the survey as you are able to and to not let radio buttons or multiple choice answers suffice. These freestyle comments provide the most valuable feedback to us.
To be unequivocal, please know that you should feel free to discuss the beautiful, the good, the neutral, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the course.
We give you the 5 points because your opinion matters to us. It's as simple as that, really.
In particular, your feedback will help me run this course better in the fall---and the counterpart for this course back at Berkeley when I return there next spring. It will also help your recitation instructors and TAs improve and fine-tune their teaching.
For your convenience, here's the link to the online MIT course survey.
To claim your 5 points, you must to send us an e-mail---by no later than 6pm this Thursday, 16 May 2013, affirming that you have completed the survey. Needless to say, you may only send us an e-mail AFTER you have completed the survey. It is NOT sufficient that you merely INTEND to complete the survey.
If you have already completed the survey, thank you. Please follow the instructions below to clinch the five points for yourself.
After you've completed the survey, please click on one of the following links to send us an e-mail indicating that you have completed it.
If you are registered for 6.041, click here .
If you are registered for 6.431, click here.
Please be sure to complete the subject line with your first and last names, in that order; do not leave the subject line devoid of your official name as it appears on your school records (no nicknames please).
For example, if you're a 6.041 student and your name is John Doe, then your subject line should be
[6041-S13-Course-Survey] John Doe
If you're a 6.431 student and your name is Jackie Johnson, then your subect line should read
[6431-S13-Course-Survey] Jackie Johnson
The body of your message must contain the following (if you use the hyperlinks above, this content should automatically appear in the body of your e-mail):
IMPORTANT: Please do NOT show us the content of your survey selections and comments. We insist that the content of your online course survey submissions be anonymous.
Cheers,
Babak.
As I mentioned in the last two lectures, we will add 5 points to the lower of your last two midterm scores, if you complete the online course evaluation survey for 6.041/6.431 (whichever one applies to your registration status).
This is honor system driven. We do not have even an iot of desire to police this.
We ask of you the following.
(a) That you NOT go on a "clicking spree" to complete the survey;
(b) that you give each question on the survey due consideration and provide answers to the best of your knowledge; and
(c) That you provide as much freestyle answers and comments on the survey as you are able to and to not let radio buttons or multiple choice answers suffice. These freestyle comments provide the most valuable feedback to us.
To be unequivocal, please know that you should feel free to discuss the beautiful, the good, the neutral, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the course.
We give you the 5 points because your opinion matters to us. It's as simple as that, really.
In particular, your feedback will help me run this course better in the fall---and the counterpart for this course back at Berkeley when I return there next spring. It will also help your recitation instructors and TAs improve and fine-tune their teaching.
For your convenience, here's the link to the online MIT course survey.
http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation
To claim your 5 points, you must to send us an e-mail---by no later than 6pm this Thursday, 16 May 2013, affirming that you have completed the survey. Needless to say, you may only send us an e-mail AFTER you have completed the survey. It is NOT sufficient that you merely INTEND to complete the survey.
If you have already completed the survey, thank you. Please follow the instructions below to clinch the five points for yourself.
After you've completed the survey, please click on one of the following links to send us an e-mail indicating that you have completed it.
If you are registered for 6.041, click here .
If you are registered for 6.431, click here.
Please be sure to complete the subject line with your first and last names, in that order; do not leave the subject line devoid of your official name as it appears on your school records (no nicknames please).
For example, if you're a 6.041 student and your name is John Doe, then your subject line should be
[6041-S13-Course-Survey] John Doe
If you're a 6.431 student and your name is Jackie Johnson, then your subect line should read
[6431-S13-Course-Survey] Jackie Johnson
The body of your message must contain the following (if you use the hyperlinks above, this content should automatically appear in the body of your e-mail):
On my honor, I affirm that
(a) I have submitted an online course evaluation for 6.041/6.431 for spring 2013; and
(b) I have given each question due consideration and filled out the survey to the best of my knowledge. I understand that giving "due consideration" did not, in any way, restrict how favorable or unfavorable my overall review was for the course.
TypeYourNameHere
IMPORTANT: Please do NOT show us the content of your survey selections and comments. We insist that the content of your online course survey submissions be anonymous.
Cheers,
Babak.
Announced on 15 May 2013 3:32 p.m. by Babak Ayazifar
Midterm 3 Solutions and Stats
We did much better on this midterm---yes, "we,"
because it takes cooperation from both sides to make magic
happen.
Midterm 3 solutions are now online. So is the actual midterm PDF file without the solutions.
Stats: Mean 82 out of 115; Std Dev 19.2.
This might help you in your self-evaluations.
Cheers,
Babak.
Midterm 3 solutions are now online. So is the actual midterm PDF file without the solutions.
Stats: Mean 82 out of 115; Std Dev 19.2.
This might help you in your self-evaluations.
Cheers,
Babak.
Announced on 15 May 2013 11:39 a.m. by Babak Ayazifar
