COMP2521 Notices

Notices

  • Assignment 1 updated

    Posted by Kevin Luxa 🦉 Saturday 10 October 2026, 08:27:45 PM.

    Hi all,

    Please note that assignment 1 has been updated with a requirement to submit regularly. You can find more details in the changelog at the top of the assignment 1 spec.

    Kind regards,

    Kevin

  • Replacement lecture recording: Today (Friday) 4-6pm

    Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 02 October 2026, 11:23:45 AM, last modified Friday 02 October 2026, 11:24:24 AM.

    Hi all,

    Following a brief straw poll yesterday evening, there was more interest in an early recording of Monday's lecture.

    Consequently I will be recording the content online today from 4-6pm.

    You are welcome to attend, especially with questions. The link is here: https://unsw.zoom.us/j/3916502447

    The recording will be uploaded to echo360 soon after (following some rudimentary editing), so you should have access to it for most of the weekend.

    Hope to see you there!

    Paul

  • Lecture 1 slides update + Lecture 2 additional recording

    Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 21 September 2026, 10:48:25 AM.

    Hi all,

    There were a few errors in the opening lecture slides making them inconsistent with the course outline (which should always be taken as the correct source). These have now been corrected. Importantly:

    • Assignments are worth 15% each (not 12.5%) and will be released in Week 4 and Week 7
    • The final exam is worth 45% (not 50%)
    • Quizzes are due on the following Monday (not Wednesday)
    • Your lab exercises will be marked within 2 weeks of the lab (not 1 week)

    Apologies for the confusion, it's always a mad rush at the start of term.

    Also, I did not get to the end of the Analysis content last week, so I made a recording covering the content in detail and have added it to the lecture recordings in echo360. I will be covering the content in a bit less detail at the start of today's lecture.

    See you later,

    Paul

  • Tutorials

    Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 21 September 2026, 08:35:35 AM, last modified Monday 21 September 2026, 08:36:53 AM.

    Hi all,

    This week marks the first week of our new and exciting "boardwork" tutorial assessments that I mentioned in the first lecture.

    Why are we doing this?

    I want to encourage less watching and more doing. I want you to use the tutelabs to get stuck into the course content, particularly in a supportive environment.

    What's going to happen?

     In your tutorials, shortly after your tutor covers a few points about the week's content, you'll break into small groups and work collaboratively on questions designed to reinforce the course content. In some weeks, these questions will flow over to exercises intended to be completed in the following lab (and you can continue to work as a group). Importantly, it's laptops down! (if possible). We want to encourage active discussion, so you'll be working on the whiteboards around the room. During this time, your tutor will move around the groups, answering and asking questions. Your tutor is looking for active participation - and that is what will earn you the mark for this assessment.

    What do we want from you?

    • Lots of discussion! Ask questions of your groupmates if you don't understand. Support them if they don't understand what you do understand. Challenge them if you think they are wrong. I want tutorials to be noisy hubs of activity!
    • Be up to date with the lectures. These boardwork exercises are meant to be a bridge between the lecture content and what you'll need to do in the labs/assignments. So we don't expect you to be an expert on the content. However, we do expect you to have seen it at least once before the tutorial. Using tutorials to go through the lecture slides is not a productive use of the time (and will not be considered active participation!)
    • Be on time for your tutorials.

    How will it be marked?

    • Your tutor is looking for active participation. It's not about getting the question(s) right, but have you been working on improving your, and others', understanding?
    • The mark is pass/fail for each of the 8 remaining weeks. You cannot make up a missed week in a later week.
    • Your best 6 grades will be taken and scaled to make up 1/3 of your overall "lab assessment" mark (i.e. 5% of your overall grade). So it is possible to miss up to two tutorials without penalty.
    • The mark is not just intended to encourage participation, but also to help transfer some of the weekly workload away from the individually-oriented lab exercises.
    • Alternative arrangements can be made for students with an ELP, extensive Special Consideration, or other concerns on a case by case basis. Please contact us if you have any worries: this change is intended to make things less burdensome for students.

    Other things:

    • We won't be releasing the questions in advance, so that the process goes some way toward simulating the experience of an exam environment. In later weeks, we may consider using exam-like questions to help your exam preparation.
    • In later weeks we may also consider including one or two additional questions intended to challenge the stronger students. However, our main focus at the start is building a supportive and collaborative environment: if you're on top of the material, then demonstrate this by helping others get on top too (one of the easiest ways to find gaps in your knowledge is when you're trying to explain something to someone else). Also we're always on the lookout for tutors for the next offering.
    • The arrangements will work slightly different for online tutorial (i.e. please don't try laptops down): your tutor will let you know.


    We're introducing these this term to help make tutorials more engaging, help with learning the course content, and prepare you for other aspects of the course. I've seen this idea work in other courses and I really think they'll make a difference as long as people give it a go. So please remember to attend the tutorial part of your tutelabs from this week.

    See you later today,

    Paul

  • Welcome to COMP2521!

    Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 14 September 2026, 01:01:10 PM.

    Hi Everyone!

    Welcome to COMP2521 for 2026 T3. I'm Paul and I will be your lecturer this term. I hope to meet you all in today's lecture at 2pm in O'Shane 104. If you can't make it, then you'll miss out on snacks, but you can catch the recording/livestream on echo360.

    The course website can be found on webCMS here. From there you can access the course resources including lecture slides, tutorials, labs and quizzes, assignments, lecture recordings and links for the livestream.

    Looking forward to seeing you soon,

    Paul

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