Response to Speech Processing feedback of 2017-10-19

[Simon]

Thank you for the useful feedback, regarding the Speech Processing course. I have clustered your comments, and my responses are below. I’ve responded to all points made by at least 2 people, plus a few isolated comments when I thought they were of wider interest. Please do feel free to follow up and offer more feedback or clarification.

[Simon]

Coursework deadlines are close to those of other courses

With a diverse class in which students take many different course combinations, there’s a limit to how much we can do about this.

Remember that deadlines are simply the latest date on which you can submit. You need to plan ahead. Make a calendar for the entire semester, look for the ‘hotspots’, then set yourself earlier deadlines in order to spread them out.

[Simon]

More help with writing

This included a request for a complete sample assignment in order to see what is expected. I’m not going to do that, for good pedagogical reasons:

• it might suggest that there is only one way to write a good lab report or literature review; there are many ways to do well on the assignments
• it would reduce the amount of thinking that you need to do; that would reduce the amount you learn by the end of the course

There will be further help with writing throughout the course, including feedback on the first assignment and a writing clinic for the second assignment.

[Simon]

Too much preparation is required for classes

With a ‘flipped classroom’, the idea is to shift some of your learning – especially the basic concepts and main readings – to before the class. The class can then be more effective. The total amount of study required for the course should be the same as for a more traditional format.

[Simon]

The videos are too long

I’m not sure if this comment refers to individual video clips (which some students have previously said are too short and fragmented), or to the total amount of video to be watched per week. Please let me know which.

[Simon]

The assignment is vague

Perhaps you were expecting a fixed set of problems to solve? The assignments are deliberately somewhat open ended, in order to give you room to think, to learn, and do well. It’s possible to get a decent mark by simply doing what is described. But, there is also plenty of headroom to get a high mark by going beyond the instructions and demonstrating the full extent of your understanding. Always remember that the primary goal of the coursework is to help you learn. The grading is of secondary importance.

[Simon]

Simon speaks too fast

This is fair criticism. I will keep trying to improve, if you keep giving me feedback. For the videos, and recorded lectures, you can control the playback speed (both slower or faster).

[Simon]

Use Python for the assignments

That’s not practical, because not all students on this course can program. Of course, you are free to use Python (or any other language) to do parts of the assignments. This makes most sense for the automatic speech recognition assignment: you can re-implement the shell scripts as Python, and fully automate all of your experiments. You could also plot your results and create your tables, using code.

[Simon]

More quizzes, including online

I’ll keep using TopHat, in class and offline. You need to check TopHat outside class, to see what questions I have placed there for review (this will include any used in class, plus additional questions).

[Simon]

More structured labs vs. Too many interruptions in the lab

This is always a difficult balance. The intention is to provide structured labs (i.e., more interruptions!) during the first week or two of each assignment, then focus on providing individual help for the last week or two.

[Simon]

Create a FAQ for the lab

This already exists on the speech.zone forums for Assignment 1 and Assignment 2, and you need to both search and browse them. If your question is not already answered there, then post a new one.

[Simon]

Lectures repeat the videos

Yes, but this should only happen when I feel that the video wasn’t good enough.

[Simon]

The textbooks are not easy to find on “the internet”

They are easy to buy from many online retailers. Perhaps you mean illegal “free” copies? Don’t use these. You are cheating hard-working authors, and breaking the law. The library has physical and/or eBook copies of most readings required for Speech Processing. If you’re serious about your studies, then you need to invest in the key textbooks.

[Simon]

Classes are too short

1-2 hours per week of lectures and 2 hours available supervised lab time seems reasonable for either a 10 credit postgraduate course, or 20 credit undergraduate one. The guidelines in my subject area are 18 contact hours (2 per week for 9 weeks) for 10 credits and 27 hours (3 per week) for 20 credits.

[Simon]

Provide a speed control for the videos

Already done.

[Simon]

Provide sample (or previous) exam papers

Already available on the University library website. More information about this year’s exam will be provided later in the course.

[Simon]

Provide a reading list for each module

This comment really surprises me because the readings for each module are in a tab within each module, listed in the order in which you should read them. You can also access alphabetically-ordered lists from the readings hub page, organised in various ways.

[Simon]

The labs are before lectures, but they should be afterwards

The labs are after the corresponding lecture (there happens to be a weekend inbetween, but that’s just how the timetable works out). The only exception to this is the first lab of the automatic speech recognition assignment, which is before any lectures on that topic. This is to get you started with the practical work as far ahead of the assignment deadline as possible.

[Simon]

We have to take notes separately for each mode of learning (videos, lectures, labs, readings)

That’s one approach, but I suggest that you gradually build and organise a single set of notes that brings together the different modes of learning. The act of constructing this will help you learn better.

[Simon]

…and finally a summary of the good things that were most frequently mentioned

From a total of 52 responses:

• The website (content,structure,videos,etc) is good: 27
• The material is interesting: 20
• The classes and/or lecturer are good: 20
• Access to resources is good: 10

[Marlene S]

Thank you about the hint with the speed control – that is so useful! As for text books, I have one comment to add, which will probably solve itself in later years, but in ANLP we are currently using a pre-print version of Jurafsky and Martin edition 3 (provided by the lecturers hence legal), which I find MUCH better than version 2 (has completely new structure). http://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/ (unfortunately, the speech synthesis and speech recognition chapters are still to be written).

[Simon]

I’m aware of the third edition currently under construction. As with previous editions, Jurafsky & Martin make this freely available until it goes off to the publishers (at which point they will presumably withdraw the draft version). As you say, the speech material is not yet updated, so we are staying with the second edition for now.

[Author]

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