Practice and Application of Data Science

Syllabus

ABOUT THIS COURSE

The marriage of data, computation, and inferential thinking, or "data science", is redefining how people and organizations solve challenging problems and understand the world. This intermediate level class bridges between DSC 10, 20 and 30 and upper division data science courses as well as methods courses in other fields. Students master the data science life-cycle and learn many of the fundamental principles and techniques of data science spanning algorithms, statistics, machine learning, visualization, and data systems.

Prerequisites: DSC 30, DSC 40A

COURSE TIMES AND LOCATIONS

Instructor:

  • Aaron Fraenkel

Lectures: Tuesday/Thursday

  • 9:30 - 10:50, PCYNH 106

Discussion:

  • Friday 9:00a-9:50a, CENTR 119

Midterm Exam:

  • Tuesday Nov 5, during the class period.

Final Exam:

  • 12/12/2019, Th 8:00a-10:59p


Grade Distribution

Your grades will be computed as follows:

  • Labs (9, weekly): 20%
  • Discussion / Checkpoints: 5%
  • Projects (5, bi-weekly): 30%
  • Midterm (mid quarter): 15%
  • Final: 30%

Important Grading Policies:

  • You must score at least 55% on the final exam to pass the course. If you score lower than 55% on the final, you will receive an F in the course, regardless of your overall average.
  • You have 3 days from the time an assignment or exam is graded to request a regrade. After that, the grade is set in stone.
  • Catastrophic error re-grade: if you got a very low score (like a 0-10) due to some minor mistake (wrong file name, indentation etc) then you are allowed to change 1-2 lines for 5% penalty. The file must be submitted to Piazza under a private regrade post. If more than 1-2 lines were changed (say, another function is added) then the entire assignment will receive a 0.
  • There are no slip days or late penalty submissions.
  • One lowest lab will be dropped.
  • All projects count.
  • You may pair program on the project assignments; you must work individually on the homework assignments.

Discussions

  • Discussions are required. By the end of each discussion you will submit a short notebook/file to Gradescope.
  • If you can't come to discussion you still can submit by the midnight of the day of discussion.

COLLABORATION POLICY AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

In DSC80 we expect you to work hard. Make use of the expertise of the staff to learn what you need to know to really do well in the course. Act with integrity, and don't cheat.

If you do cheat, we will enforce the UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship. This means: You will fail the course, no matter how small the affected assignment, and the Dean of your college will put you on probation or suspend or dismiss you from UCSD.

Why is academic integrity important?

Academic integrity is an issue that should be important to all students on campus. When students act unethically by copying someone’s work, taking an exam for someone else, plagiarizing, etc., these students are misrepresenting their academic abilities. This makes it impossible for instructors to give grades and for the University to give degrees that reflect student knowledge. This devalues the worth of a UCSD degree for all students, making it important for the entire campus to band together and enforce that all members of this community are honest and ethical. We want your degree to be meaningful and we want you to be proud to call yourself a graduate of UCSD!

The Jacobs School of Engineering Code of Academic Integrity, the UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and this syllabus list some of the standards by which you are expected to complete your academic work, but your good ethical judgment (or asking us for advice) is also expected as we cannot list every behavior that is unethical or not in the spirit of academic integrity. Ignorance of the rules will not excuse you from any violations.

What counts as cheating?

In DSC80, you can read books, surf the web, talk to your friends and the DS80 staff to get help understanding the concepts you need to know to complete your assignments. However, all code must be written by you, together with your partner if you are allowed to have one.


The following activities are considered cheating and ARE NOT ALLOWED in DS80 (This is not an exhaustive list):

  • Using or submitting code acquired from other students (except your partner, where allowed), the web, or any other resource not officially sanctioned by this course
  • Having any other student complete any part of your assignment on your behalf
  • Acquiring exam questions or answers prior to taking an exam
  • Completing an assignment on behalf of someone else
  • Using someone else's clicker for them to earn them credit or giving your clicker to someone else so that they can participate for you to earn credit (if clickers are used in class)
  • Providing code, exam questions, or solutions to any other student in the course
  • Using any external resource on closed-book exams

The following activities are examples of appropriate collaboration and ARE ALLOWED in DSC80:

  • Discussing the general approach to solving homework problems or a final project
  • Talking about debugging strategies or debugging issues you ran into and how you solved them
  • Discussing the answers to exams with other students who have already taken the exam after the exam is complete
  • Using code provided in class, by the textbook or any other assigned reading or video, with attribution
  • Google searching for documentation on Python

How can I be sure that my actions are NOT considered cheating?

To ensure that you don't encounter any problems, here are some suggestions for completing your work.

  • Don't look at or discuss the details of another student's code for an assignment you are working on, and don't let another student look at your code.
  • Don't start with someone else's code and make changes to it, or in any way share code with other students.
  • If you are talking to another student about an assignment, don't take notes, and wait an hour afterward before you write any code.

Note: in the discussion above, we are talking about other students that are not your pair programming partner. See the pair programming guidelines for information on working with a partner.


Remember, Academic Integrity is about doing your part to act with Honesty, Trust, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility and Courage.

Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to fostering a learning environment for this course that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and respects your identities (including race, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sex, class, sexuality, religion, ability, age, educational background, etc.). Our goal is to create a diverse and inclusive learning environment where all students feel comfortable and can thrive.

Our instructional staff will make a concerted effort to be welcoming and inclusive to the wide diversity of students in this course. If there is a way we can make you feel more included please let one of the course staff know, either in person, via email/discussion board, or even in a note under the door. Our learning about diverse perspectives and identities is an ongoing process, and we welcome your perspectives and input.

We also expect that you, as a student in this course, will honor and respect your classmates, abiding by the UCSD Principles of Community (https://ucsd.edu/about/principles.html). Please understand that others’ backgrounds, perspectives and experiences may be different than your own, and help us to build an environment where everyone is respected and feels comfortable.If you experience any sort of harassment or discrimination, please contact the instructor as soon as possible. If you prefer to speak with someone outside of the course, please contact the Office of Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination: https://ophd.ucsd.edu/