Overview
Starting with Module 2, your project group must create presentations to lead discussions of the required readings listed on the class schedule.
We devote two classes to each reading to allow us to deeply grok the material. As a result, there are two types of presentations: 1) a summary of the technical reading; 2) a critical analysis of the reading and discussion of questions raised by students. If your group is presenting the day a required reading is listed on the schedule, you will lead the first type of discussion. If your group is presenting on a day there is no required reading listed, your group will lead the second type of discussion on the reading listed for the previous lecture.
Please see below for details about both types of presentations:
Synthesized summary (First presentation)
Your group's objective is to create a presentation that synthesizes the information in the required reading. You should identify the key novel elements in the reading and discuss those in detail, while paying less attention to other elements. Your presentation should not cover every element of the reading. It's up to you to synthesize the content and try to bring out the elements are most important and novel.
When creating your presentation, please focus the questions listed below. The questions are designed to guide you toward focusing on what's most important/novel about the paper. Please also peruse the optional readings listed on the course schedule. These readings will provide you with important background you might need to understand the paper.
A high-level analysis is preferred to implementation details. What aspects of the paper were innovative or particularly interesting? Were there parts that you found difficult to understand? Remember that your audience is assumed to have read the paper so you can review key points or parts you thought were unclear but you should not walk through the paper a step at a time.
Please limit your talk to 30 min to allow time for questions. Please do one dry run of your presentation before class to verify this.
Questions to answer in your presentation. Note that Q3 differs from the questions we ask for the written summaries.:
- What is the problem the paper tries to solve?
- What is the paper's approach and why does it ameliorate the problem?
- How do the authors show that their approach works?
- How would you improve the paper?
- Sample Presentation to help guide you:
Critical sNalysis to student questions (Second presentation)
Your goal with this presentation is to critically analyze the paper and answer questions students asked in the second canvas discussion thread.
Your presentation must answer the critical analysis questions, which are listed below. They must also follow the rules for the student questions, listed below.
Please limit your talk to 30 min to allow time for questions. Please do one dry run of your presentation before class to verify this.
- Critical analysis:
- How does the paper relate to other papers discussed in class? For example, does the paper use ideas in other papers we've discussed? Does it explore a paper we previously discussed in more detail?
- What settings or domains is the paper's approach best suited for?
- Are there settings in which the paper's approach will not work?
- Student questions:
- Read students' summaries submitted before the first lecture of the paper and the questions they posted after the lecture.
- Pick the three most commonly-asked questions and try to provide detailed answers about them. If you cannot find three commonly-asked questions, pick ones your group is most curious about.
- Pick one out of these three that you would like the class to discuss in detail during the lecture period.
Resources for student Presentations
When creating your presentations, it might be helpful to consult some of the resources listed below.
- Tips for Giving Clear Talks. by Kayvon Fatahalian
- The Talk Talk. by Megan Monroe