Discussion class format

There will be ten discussion classes which will center around important papers in the field. These classes will begin with a presentation by the instructor about the paper and will be followed by a discussion.
The discussions will be organized around different “roles” that students will play. (This format is based on a course design by Alec Jacobson and Colin Raffel.)
Each student will take on one of the following presenter roles for five of the ten discussion classes and give an approximately 7-minute presentation followed by 3 minutes of questions and discussion.
For the remaining five discussion classes, the student will come to class having completed the non-presenting assignment.

Presenter roles

Archaeologist: Determine where this paper sits in the context of previous and subsequent work. Find and report on one older paper cited by the current paper and one newer paper citing this current paper.
Researcher: Propose an imaginary followup project not just based on the current but only possible due to the existence and success of the current paper.
Industry R&D Expert: Convince us (your industry bosses) that it’s worth your time and money to implement this paper into our company’s pipeline. Choose an appropriate company and product or application.
Private Investigator: Find out background information on one of the paper authors. Where have they worked? What did they study? What previous projects might have led to working on this one?
NeurIPS Reviewer: Complete review of the paper (critical but not necessarily negative). Answer the questions on the NeurIPS Review Form.

Non-presenter assignment

By 1pm on the day of the discussion, post at least one question about the paper to Ed Discussion (either something you’re confused about or something you’d like to hear discussed more).

Grading

Each presentation is worth 10 points, for a total of 50 points.
Each non-presenter assignment is worth 2 points, for a total of 10 points.