Types of Exercises

The lab exercises for this class typically consist of activities intended to enhance the understanding of the topics discussed in class. Examples are the use and evaluation of systems that embody AI methods, the use of tools that demonstrate principles and methods used in AI, or the evaluation of projects and systems that make claims to have achieved some intelligence. There will be some short programming assignments, but most of the exercises will not require coding.
Since you will also be working on your team project during the lab time, I am trying to design the lab exercises so that they will not consume more than half of the lab time per week. If it turns out to be significantly more time-consuming, please let me know so I can adjust or replace the exercise.
Most lab exercises are to be done individually. Those that can be done in teams state that explicitly.

Distribution and Submission of Lab Exercises

Copies of the exercises are available from the Class Schedule, or by following the links in the navigation area. Usually there are ten lab exercises in total, but not all of them may be available at the start of the course. There may also be adjustments in the sequence or the topics of individual lab exercises.
Most of the lab submissions will be via Web-based questionnaires. For some labs, your results could be of interest to other students, and I may ask you to submit them via a PolyLearn discussion forum. If you are not comfortable making your work available to the rest of class, let me know.
In general, the deadline for an assignment is at the end of the lab period a week after the lab has been handed out. The deadline is indicated on the handout. Lab exercises submitted late are subject to a 10% deduction per late (business) day; no late submissions will be accepted after the solution has been distributed, or discussed in class.

Grading and Return of Assignments

Usually I give points for lab exercises, not letter grades. All the lab exercises for a course add up to 100 points, which is then scaled to the contributing factor with respect to the overall grade (e.g. 10%). Alternatively, I may use 100 points per assignment, with a weight factor for each individual assignment. After grading, I will return the submitted work to the students.