This is a seminar course. We will be reading, evaluating, and discussing papers from the mobile networking literature. Each class session (except for the first) will consist of student paper presentations. The course requirements include reading the papers, writing short evaluations, actively participating in class discussions, and occasionally presenting a paper to the class. In addition, those of you interested in taking the class for credit (4 units) will work in groups on a term project. There are no exams or homework (other than the paper evaluations) for this course.
Each of these requirements is described in detail below.The goal of the course is to prepare each of you for research in mobile networking. To that end, we will be reading a number of seminal and recent conference and journal papers in the area. In order for you to participate in the class discussions it is essential that you've actually read the papers. While you don't necessarily have to understand all of them (that's what the discussion is for), you should have at least attempted to get through the paper, at least looking at all of it.
To help motivate the class discussion, everyone enrolled in the class is required to submit a short (1/2 page, no more than 1 page; single-spaced, 12pt font) evaluation of the paper being discussed. These evaluations should briefly summarize the main contributions of the paper, as well as your assessment of its main strengths and weaknesses. In particular, you should highlight what you believe to be the novel insight or approach, and how it might be useful outside the scope of the paper. These evaluations should be submitted via email the evening before class. Since I realize many of you may prefer to work while others of us sleep, the "evening before class" will be construed to end at 6am, PST, on the morning of class. Those students presenting the paper are excused from submitting an evaluation.
The most important requirement is active participation in class discussions. The evaluations should provide ample topics for discussion, but don't feel constrained to limit your comments to those expressed in your evaluations. Questions or clarifications about confusing parts of the papers (there will be many!) are entirely appropriate. Thoughtful criticism or extension of the work presented in the paper is highly encouraged. We've all read the papers---it's your new insight we're interested in!
Everyone enrolled in the class will be asked to present at least one paper during the quarter (the more folks enrolled, the fewer papers you'll need to present, so encourage your friends to sign up!). This doesn't need to be a conference-quality talk, so don't worry too much about it. The basic idea is to present to the class a brief summary of the paper (what problem does it attempt to tackle, why is that problem interesting, what is the approach, how effective was it, etc.) for the benefit of those sitting in (there will usually be several), and to present your evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the paper, as well as any interesting next steps or related issues. Think of it as an oral presentation of what you would have written down. You should also prepare a short list of discussion topics to help get the class started. Slides are encouraged but not required.
If you enroll for four units of credit, you are required to do a term project. Projects will be conducted in groups of 2-3 people in consultation with me. You may pick your own groups, or I will form them for you if you haven't done so by the end of the second week of class. A list of potential topics will be posted to the class Web site, but feel free to suggest your own. The output of your term project will be a conference-length report, a 20-minute presentation to be given during the exam period, and perhaps an interesting software artifact. Ideally, some of the project reports will turn into conference or workshop submissions. I'd be happy to discuss such prospects with you during or after the term.
Here's a brief schedule for the project:
| Term project (report and presentation) | 60% |
| Class participation | 15% |
| Paper evaluations (written) | 15% |
| Paper evaluations (oral) | 10% |
As with any graduate course, however, grades shouldn't be your first concern. I hope that your motivation will come from the desire to learn about the material we're discussing and prepare yourself for further research. If there's anything about the way this course is evaluated that causes you to be distracted from that goal, please let me know.