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Informatics Fourth Year Honours Course Guide
Course related matters

This page is concerned with Informatics final year courses other than the project ; however the statement about mitigating circumstances applies to all aspects of UG4.

Courses both introduce new topics and revisit familiar topics in greater depth. Topics span the range of Informatics, and usually reflect the research interests of the members of staff offering courses, thus adding a distinctive "Edinburgh flavour" to the degree. Students choose six courses from the selection offered, predominantly reflecting their interests and abilities, but also balancing content and scheduling. Normally, there are two hours of timetabled activity per week for each course. Students are also expected to do a significant amount of independent work on associated activities. Appropriate types of activity vary from course to course, but can be expected to include a significant amount of background reading (of lecture notes and other material). Any practical exercises associated with courses are designed to illustrate specific new techniques and give rapid feedback on progress.

Assessment

The courses account for 80 out 120 points and thus contribute 80/120×100=66.66...% of the assessment in UG4. The arrangements for assessment vary from course to course. Normally, one component is an examination paper, requiring students to answer two questions from a choice of three (although this can vary), during the examination diet following the end of the second semester. Papers are set and marked by the members of staff responsible for each course; before the examination, papers are vetted by an Examination Scrutiny Committee, and by the External Examiner. Any other assessment components are regarded as continuous assessment, and results are returned promptly to students as feedback on progress. Such components have deadlines for the submission and return of work, and both staff and students are expected to schedule their workload appropriately. It is advisable for students to apply a time limit to activities associated with courses, in addition to respecting imposed deadlines.

Late submission policy.  Late submission of coursework willl not be accepted without good reason. All applications for permission to submit late must be sent to the UG4 organiser. "Good reason" for an extension means something that, in the judgement of the member of staff responsible, would prevent a competent, well-organised, conscientious student from being able to submit on time. Examples include:

• Significant illness. Significance is context dependent; in general, an illness is more likely to be significant the closer to the deadline it occurs. For example, illness on the day of the deadline which prevented you from being able to get to the ITO to hand in paper would be significant, but one day of illness at other times would not, because you should expect and plan to lose some days to illness.
• Serious personal problems. This is even harder to define, but examples include relationship breakdown, eviction from your home, illness of a family member, and other unfortunate circumstances that make it impossible to work for a while. Again, things that happen closer to the deadline are more likely to be considered good reasons.
• Interviews/selection procedures, in some circumstances, e.g. if they take you away from Edinburgh for more than one day at short notice.

You should always inform your Director of Studies of any such thing that seriously affects your work, whether or not you ask for an extension as a consequence. If you prefer, you can choose to discuss details only with your DoS; s/he can advocate with other members of staff for you without going into details.

Non-examples, things that would not be considered good reasons, include anything you could have planned for or avoided: difficult clusters of deadlines, attending social events, the demands of any job you undertake during semester, last-minute computer problems, loss of work through (your) backup failure, etc.

In general, you are expected to plan your time well and including contingency time. For example, if you expect a piece of work to take two days, you should begin it more than two days before its deadline.

Mitigating Circumstances.  As in all years, any relevant special circumstances should be reported immediately to your Director of Studies. Please also inform the UG4 organiser or UG4 projects organiser as appropriate. Special circumstances can affect various aspects of attendance, coursework, projects, exam revision, or exam performance

Deadlines for coursework for the first semester will not normally spill over into the following semester (although this might happen in very exceptional cases). Work that is submitted during semester time will be returned within 1 week of submission for classes of up to 30 students and 2 weeks otherwise. Please note that these are rough estimates and can vary (e.g., for courses with a large software practical or lengthy essay, however even in such cases work will be returned within 3 weeks). Work that is submitted at the end of semester will be marked by the end of the semester break.

Retention of marked practical work

The university requires that 4th year students' coursework is available to be seen by the External examiner and kept by the School until 4 months after the Board of Examiners meeting. You must therefore keep all your coursework and be prepared to hand it in to the ITO when requested. The deadline for handing it in will be notified to you.

Choice of courses

You must make an initial but non binding choice of courses (amounting to exactly 120 points including the project/dissertation/thesis) by the end of Week 1 of Semester 1. The final choice is left as late as possible given other requirements. See registration links and deadlines for the details.