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Jobs on Formal Modelling in Cognitive Science 1

Formal Modelling in Cognitive Science 1 (FMCS1) is a new first year course designed to teach students various mathematical concepts andtechniques in close association with motivating concepts from cognitive science. It will cover basic material from logic and game theory, probability and information theory, linear algebra and calculus. Computational tools will play an important role in the presentation of the course.

The course is mainly targeted at students on the new BSc in Cognitive Science, but other Informatics students will also be able to take this course. More information can be found at:

http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/fmcs1.html

FMCS will run in Semester 2 (10 January 2005 - 24 March 2005), and will comprise 10 weeks of teaching. The lecturer on the course are:

Keith Stenning: Logic and Game Theory
Mathematics for Neural and Connectionist Modelling: Mark van Rossum
Probability and Information Theory: Frank Keller

The course organiser is Frank Keller.

We have vacancies for a teaching assistant, tutors, lab demonstrators, and markers. Please note that it's possible (indeed, encouraged) to apply for several of these jobs.

Teaching Assistant

The teaching assistant (TA) supports the lecturers and with a variety of duties to help the smooth running of the course. It is anticipated that these duties will mainly involve preparing the following types of course materials: (a) guidance for tutors, (b) assessed assignments and solutions, (c) guidance for lab demonstrators, and (d) lab assignments with solutions. Lab assignments will be administered using a lab book. This is an innovative learning tool (similar to a weblog) that allows students to record their progress during lab sessions. Lab books will be submitted as coursework and assessed.

The teaching assistant is expected to have a close involvement and keen interest in the running of the course. They should have a strong academic background in the topics of the course. An enthusiasm for teaching is an essential prerequisite: the lecturers would like to work closely with the TA and encourage their ideas and input to improve the course while it runs. The TA will also be expected to assist with the support and management of the demonstrator and marker.

Hours and pay: The teaching assistant will be given a contract for 40 hours paid at the University demonstrators rate. Some of this work may be completed before Christmas.

Eligibility: We expect the teaching assistant to be a postgraduate student. A teaching assistant post could provide excellent experience for those who are considering teaching or training roles in the future.

Applications: Please send a brief CV, with a description of your relevant experience and details of the skills you could bring to the job, to <tutor-applications@inf.ed.ac.uk>.

Tutors - These posts have been filled by academics for 2004/05

Tutors have a close contact and responsibility for the students' learning. You will take a small group of around 12 students and give them tuition and guidance on the content of the course.

Course web pages will detail the progress of the course. Specific exercises will be set for each tutorial and all students are expected to prepare these prior to the tutorial session.  You have the freedom to organise how you will teach the material set for each tutorial, and are also expected to respond to students' individual needs. All students should be encouraged to participate actively in the tutorial the most enjoyable and productive tutorials are those which involve good two way interaction with and between the tutor and
students. Tutors are also required to monitor attendance and general progress of students.

All marking will be done by a separate marker so a tutor will not be required to do any marking.

For more information on tutoring, see the University Code of Practice on Tutoring and Demonstrating. The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment also run introductory courses for first time tutors, which all first time tutors must attend. Informatics may also run in-house tutorial training sessions which less experienced tutors will be expected to attend.

Hours and pay: There will 10 tutorials throughout the semester (one per week), each 50 minutes long. Pay is at the standard UoE tutor rate/hr of contact time with the students. The University expects that a tutor spends 1 hour of preparation for each tutorial.

Eligibility: Tutors must be postgraduate students, researchers, or teaching staff. Good communication and group management skills are required.

Applications: Please send a brief CV, with a description of your relevant experience and details of the skills you could bring to the job, to <tutor-applications@inf.ed.ac.uk>.

Laboratory Demonstrators

The main requirement of this job is to help students with their practical exercises which will be set by lecturers for each timetabled lab session. A secondary requirement is to help maintain the orderly running of the lab.

Demonstrating is an enjoyable job for somebody who is friendly and approachable, and has a certain amount of patience with beginners.
Good communication skills are vital. Some previous experience with mathematical software (such as Matlab) would be useful. Demonstrators should read over the lecture notes each week.

For more information on the job responsibilities, see the University Code of Practice: Demonstrators' Rights and Responsibilities.

Hours and pay: There will be 5 two hour lab sessions throughout the semester (one every fortnight). Pay is at the University demonstrators rate.

Eligibility: Usually demonstrators are postgraduate students, or responsible 4th year undergraduates (exceptionally 3rd years) with the right background. All demonstrators must attend training a demonstrator training session and also a Fire Steward training session.

Applications: Please send a brief CV, with a description of your relevant experience and details of the skills you could bring to the job, to <tutor-applications@inf.ed.ac.uk.
 

Markers

The coursework marking for the course will be done by markers supervised by the lecturers. Marking comprises two parts: (a) the marking of assessed assignments (there will be three assignments in total), (b) the marking of the lab book (see the TA section above); there will be five lab book assignments.

Hours and pay: There will be approximately 40 hours of marking.

Eligibility: Markers must be postgraduate students or researchers.

Applications: Please send a brief CV, with a description of your relevant experience and details of the skills you could bring to the job, to <tutor-applications@inf.ed.ac.uk>.