[Simon]

PDF of the lecture slides

This is already done and was announced at the start of the course. You need to get them from Learn, because I don’t want to make them freely available on this site.

[Simon]

Glossary of technical terms

That’s a great idea, and I will implement it. I want to do it properly though, so it’s going to take some time.

In the meantime, simply post your requests for definitions in this forum topic and I will provide them “on demand”.

[Simon]

The lab tutor(s) just read out the instruction sheet

I have given them more training and they will no longer do this. In fact, they will assume you have already read the instruction sheet all the way through before coming to the lab session.

[Simon]

I don’t like TopHat questions

I’m afraid you are in a minority. In an instant poll, 76% of students wanted me to use TopHat.

I’ll continue using them, but only a few per lecture.

[Simon]

TopHat is buggy

Yes, I know. I do not know what the problem is. Please let me know if it is only buggy in this course, and works well in other courses (in which case it might be something I am doing wrong), or whether it’s a general problem.

[Simon]

Provide the TopHat questions for review after each lecture

I’ve now done this for all the questions used in the course so far, and will release future questions after they have been used in lectures.

[Simon]

Record the lectures

This is already being done and the recordings automatically appear on Learn, usually just a few hours after each lecture. This was announced at the start of the course.

[Simon]

Lectures are too short

When combined with 1 hour of tutored lab time per week, each student has 2 or 3 hours of contact per week. This is consistent with PPLS guidelines for 10 and 20 credit courses.

To get the most benefit from the available lecture time, do the following:

• Do all essential reading well before the lecture
• Ask your questions in advance
• Come to the 9.00 lectures
• Use the lab sessions to ask further questions

[Simon]

I don’t like the lecture room

There is an instant poll to find out whether this is widely-held view.

[Simon]

Lab session are too short to finish all the work required

This is by design. You need to spend a substantial amount of time in the lab beyond the tutored lab sessions. You can obtain an unlimited amount of help by using the forums.

To get the most out of the tutored lab sessions, it should be obvious that you read all the instructions in advance. I’ve noticed some students spending time in the tutored sessions simply going through the instructions. This is not a smart strategy.

Ideally, I would like to offer 2 hour lab sessions. However, the current lab facility is not big enough for this and is in high demand. I hope to do this in future years when we might get a larger lab.

[Simon]

Provide the lab instructions further in advance

I think this one is the students’ responsibility: be more proactive and read further ahead in the course materials. This is level 10+11 course. The materials have been available since before the start of the course.

However, I will find some time within each 10.00 lecture to highlight how far through the 2nd assignment you should be by that point.

[Simon]

Need more “big picture” / recap / overview

In the next part of the course (speech recognition), I will include a short section at the start of each 10.00 lecture, summarising what you should know at that point, and how the current topic fits into the overall picture.

[Simon]

I’m sorry about this – I have no control over it. The teaching offices are responsible for creating the submission links and sending you all information on how to submit. Please visit them in person tomorrow morning to find out what to do.

Again – my apologies – I have to rely on the teaching offices for this stuff.

[Simon]

You need to do both.

Citing published work in not a substitute for providing explanations in your own words. You should combine these, with the citations being used to support your explanations.

[Simon]

Website structure is too deeply nested

I accept that the nesting has gone too deep in some places. Restructuring the pages part-way through a course is likely to cause more problems than it solves, so this feedback will be acted upon in the future, for both Speech Synthesis and Speech Processing.

[Author]

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