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Coursework

COGS 300 is a 4-credit course with 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab. UBC guidelines are that you should expect to spend 2-3 hours working outside of class for every hour of class time. For this course, that is 10-15 hours per week. You will not succeed in this course unless you indeed spend that time. Much of your mark is dependent on active participation, peer evaluation, and self-evaluation. Attendance is mandatory and will be checked, participation is also mandatory and will be evaluated both by course staff and peers.

COGS 300 is an unusual course for some students because it is taught as a design course. The assignments are purposefully written to not include extensive rubrics, exact directions, or with plentiful examples. This is because, in a design course, you are expected to actually practice designing, which is a creative practice. Being a designer means making up solutions that are not yet known. We will teach you how, but you must get good at making things up yourself.

By and large, we are taking inspiration from the "ungrading" movement. That is to say, the point of grading in this course is to keep everyone on track with learning outcomes and to evaluate mastery of skills. So, although we do "grade" to ensure that people are getting adequate feedback, we would prefer to spend our time teaching. Similarly, we prefer you spend your study time developing practical skills drawing, building, discussing, and testing. We believe that anyone who fully participates will reasonably master the subject, so our grading is oriented towards encouraging practice.

However, this puts the onus on you, the student, to become responsible for your own learning in this course, and not everybody has the practice of discipline needed for that. We do indeed show you everything you need to succeed in this course, but you have to choose to practice it on your own. Set aside time to do the exercises given in class. If you do not know how to do an exercise, teaching staff is happy to guide you, but nobody can make you practice but you.

Labs​

All lab are designed to give you practice for the lecture materials, and to advance you towards building your group robot, and your personal project. Lab attendance is required. When appropriate, labs are marked on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means "very little effort", 2 means "some effort", 3 means "most expectations met", 4 means "meets expectations" and 5 means "exceeds expectations". You will note that getting 100% means going beyond the minimum requirements of the lab. This is not meant to be an extremely high bar, but it will require more work than is strictly asked of you. Labs will suggest how to exceed expectations.

Tournament​

During most labs, you will be working towards building a robot with your group for the robot tournament. You are expected to participate fully and complete the robot tournament to the best of your abilities.

The tournament ranking is run for bonus marks, to be determined by the course staff closer to the date. There are usually three challenges, such as line-following, wall-following, and object detection. Students create the tournament course, and so bonuses may change depending on what students create, but are often handed out for fastest team per challenge, and best overall. Bonus mark awards are intentionally negotiable.

Personal Project​

During the rest of the labs, you will be working towards creating a personal mechatronic project. That means that you will have to make your own device that both senses and actuates. It should be significantly different from the lab robot, i.e., it cannot be an ambulating robot. It must perform sensing of the real world with a sensor that attaches to a microcontroller, and it must electrically actuate in the real world in some manner.

Sketchbook​

You will be required to maintain a paper sketchbook. Yes, it really has to be paper, not a tablet or computer. Yes, you really have to draw in it. Paper is far superior to any computing technology for quick drawings, half-finished thoughts, communicating ideas quickly, improvising, tearing sheets out, folding, seeing things from multiple angles, etc. There just isn't a better way to sketch. You're welcome to take your own notes in whatever format you want, but we need you to bring a real paper sketchbook and drawing tools to class.

In-class Design Practice​

During lecture, we will provide many design challenges that you are to record in your sketchbook. The sketchbook must be a real, physical sketchbook, and must be brought to each lecture. Every two weeks, you will hand in photos of your in-class design work for credit/d/fail grading, alongside a more formalized design challenge. You are encouraged to add explanatory and reflective notes after class to contextualize your design work and learning.

The point of the sketchbook is NOT for us to mark your notes. Although many people do use their sketchbook for note-taking, we do NOT assess your notes. It is a way for you to communicate with your peers about in-class design challenges, and a way for us to check in on your ongoing design practice. You will also put parts of your project deliverables in your sketchbook.

At one point in the term, you will have a sketchbook check-in meeting with your TA. The main purpose is to discuss your project, but people also use this opportunity to discuss their class progress and COGS in general. The check-in is required to receive any of your sketchbook marks.

During the last week of lecture, you will hand in your sketchbook. The sketchbook should be a record of your design practice throughout the term, and culminate clearly in your final project. Your sketchbook will be assesssed for quality, but relative to your own abilities. That is, if you "can't draw," that's OK, but then you should use a ruler or trace things. We will teach you how.

Design Challenges​

Every two weeks, you will also be given a single design challenge that builds on one of the in-class design practices. This will be self-assessed with the same 1-5 scale that is used in lab, and then checked by the TA. Whereas your in-class design practice only requires evidence of work, this will require neatness, full engagement, annotation, and completeness.

Grading Breakdown​

Project: 40%​

  • 10% paper prototype
  • 10% works-like prototype
  • 20% final prototype

Labs: 30%​

  • 25% lab marks
  • 5% final tournament assessment

Sketchbook: 30%​

  • 12% In-class design work and participation
  • 12% Design challenges
  • 6% Sketchbook check-in meeting