Welcome to the InfoVis course!

22 julho 2024, 18:12 Daniel Jorge Viegas Gonçalves

Welcome to the InfoVis course! This is a bit long, but read it through...

We're going to have a very interesting semester (well... period...) and I'm sure you'll find this course interesting! Meanwhile, here are a couple of things that are relevant now.

Firstly, when you enroll for the lab schedules, keep in mind that you will be making a project in groups of 3. Those groups will, out of necessity, be created by those enrolled in the same schedule. You will only be able to form a group with colleagues who enrolled in the same lab schedule as you. We will form these groups in the first lab class. So enroll keeping that in mind. Also be aware there is a limited number of vacancies on each schedule. First come, first served, no exceptions, no overflows. We give each group individualized feedback on their projects throughout the semester, and too many groups would jeopardize that. We'll be open to direct trades ("I go to schedule X and my colleague from schedule X will come to my original schedule").

Still on the subject of the labs: MEIC-A students must enroll at Alameda and MEIC-T students at Taguspark. It may be possible to enroll in the other campus, but only after we've made sure everyone from that campus has a place. In short: you may (and will) be ejected from the schedule you chose if you are not from that campus and someone from there has nowhere to go. A way to prevent this is, again, direct trades ("I am from AL coming here to TP in exchange for my colleague from TP going there"). If relevant, talk with the professor in your first class. OTOH, if there are vacancies, we'll accept you wherever.

Another important bit. Now we have periods instead of semesters and an intensive learning approach. That means that all of the seven weeks in the period count! As such, we'll hit the ground running on the first week, both with lectures and labs! We will be using a flipped classroom that requires preparation at home. In fact, there will be no lecturing. We'll be using the classes for exercises and practical case discussions that will be essential for the quizzes and lab checkpoint reports alike. Preparation is essential, as, again, we won't be doing exposition, just putting concepts into practice. You should start preparing for the first class and first lab as soon as materials are available.
How to do that? Not here. This course will take place on moodle, at https://pcm.rnl.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/moodle (NOTE: this is not the "RNL/DEI Moodle you may have used in other courses, but our very own; if you already took the PCM course, it's that one). Once enrollments in Fenix stabilize a bit, we will enroll everyone on Moodle, and you will be able to log in using your Fenix credentials. There you will find all the info about the classes, videos to watch explaining the materials to prepare for class, the lab exercises (including some videos as well), the quizzes to be done before class for you to check you have properly prepared, etc. In fact, this is likely the only post I'll ever do on Fenix. From now on, all the action takes place on Moodle. 
That's it for now! Let's have a great semester together!