Video Project

Section Video Project

For the video project, you will form a group of 3 or 4 students and create a 10-minute YouTube video on a coding theory topic aimed at a non-expert but mathematically curious audience. You will write a script, create visuals, and record narration to explain the topic clearly and engagingly. The goal of this project is threefold: to deepen your understanding of the material by explaining it to others, to practice the crucial professional skill of working in a team, and to develop the skill of presenting mathematical ideas to a non-mathematician (essential in many professional and academic contexts).

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Subsection Video Project Requirements

Video Length.

Your video must be at most 10 minutes long. I expect most videos to be between 8 and 10 minutes long, but you can go shorter if you feel you can cover your topic adequately in less time and include all the required components.

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Video Components.

Your video should have all of the following parts:

Problem Statement 🔗: Clearly state and define the problem you are addressing in your video.
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Motivation 🔗: Motivate why your problem is interesting. Why should a lay person care?
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Assumed Background 🔗: Specify what background you expect of the viewer. You should provide links (ideally to other videos, but text resources are ok too) in the video description that a viewer can look up to get the necessary background.
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Solutions 🔗: Solve the problem!
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References 🔗: Link to any relevant references either directly in the video or in the video description.
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Credit to Atri Rudra for the idea of this project.
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Relevance 🔗: At least the problem statement or the solution should relate to coding theory in some way.
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Your solution should have the following components:

Proof 🔗: Your solution should include a proof, but this need not be formal or extremely detailed. The goal is to convince the viewer that your solution is correct with some technical intuition. Think about the way that we have convinced ourselves that results are correct in class: we often use examples, pictures, and analogies to build intuition rather than formal proofs.
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Illustration 🔗: Your solution must have at least one illustration in the video. It could be a static image, an animation, a physical demonstration, or something else. The goal is to help the viewer visualize the solution. You are encouraged to use visuals for both the problem statement and the solution.
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Subsection Team Contract

Details to come soon.

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Subsection Report

Before you submit the video, you have to submit a short report of no more than 2 pages. This will be how we integrate feedback into this assessment so that you can improve before final submission. Your report must address the following items.

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Report Requirements.

Description of the problem you will consider in your video.
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Why is the problem interesting? What is the motivation of your problem, and in particular why should a non-expert care about it?
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Description of your solution to the problem.
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What proof(s) will be in your video?
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What figures/animations will you include? Here you can just describe them - they don’t have to be included yet.
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What (mathematical) background will you assume of your audience?
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What part of the video will each group member be responsible for? This includes both the research needed as well as the actual creative process.
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What references will you use? (References can be listed at the end and do not count towards the 2-page limit.)
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This is not fully binding - you are allowed to deviate a bit in your final video, but I encourage you to discuss any significant deviations with me before submitting.

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Subsection Peer Review

At the end of the semester, you will review yourself and your team members against the rubric below.

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Table 3.

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Category	0 points (Nearly non-existent)	1 point (Below group average)	2 points (At group average)	3 points (Above group average)
Role	Does not willingly assume team roles; Rarely completes assigned work	Accepts assigned team roles or completes assigned work less often than the rest of the group	Accepts assigned team roles or completes assigned work about as often as the rest of the group	Accepts assigned team roles or completes assigned work more often than the rest of the group
Leadership/Collaboration	Does not take any leadership role; Does not collaborate;	Shows leadership, collaborates, and helps teammates less often than the rest of the group	Shows leadership, collaborates, and helps teammates about as often as the rest of the group	Shows leadership, collaborates, and helps teammates more often than the rest of the group
Participation	Often misses meetings; Routinely unprepared for meetings; Rarely participates in meetings and does not share ideas	Shows up prepared for meetings and participates less often than the rest of the group	Shows up prepared for meetings and participates about as often as the rest of the group	Shows up prepared for meetings and participates more often than the rest of the group
Professionalism	Often discourteous and/or openly critical of teammates; Does not want to listen to any alternate perspectives	Is courteous to teammates and listens to other perspectives less often than the rest of the group. Criticizes teammates more often than the rest of the group.	Is courteous to teammates, listens to other perspectives, and criticizes teammates about as often as the rest of the group	Is courteous to teammates and listens to other perspectives more often than the rest of the group. Criticizes teammates less often than the rest of the group.
Quality	Rarely contributes to the video and report components of the project; Others often required to revise, debug, or fix their work	Contributes to the video and report components of the project less than the rest of the group. Others needed to revise, debug, or fix their work more than the rest of the group.	Contributes to the video and report components of the project about as often as the rest of the group. Others needed to revise, debug, or fix their work about as often as the rest of the group.	Contributes to the video and report components of the project more than the rest of the group. Others needed to revise, debug, or fix their work less than the rest of the group.

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Subsection Deadlines

For my sanity, you will have several deadlines for this project. For most of these, missing the deadline will likely result in your team earning a Beginner mark for the project, which means your grade in the course is capped at a D.

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Group Selection 🔗: By 11:59 pm on Thursday February 12th, you must form your groups of 3 or 4 students and submit (1 person per group is enough) the names of all group members in the assignment on Canvas.
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Students who do not form a group by this deadline will be assigned to groups by me randomly.
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Topic & Team Contract 🔗: By 11:59 pm on Thursday February 26th, your team must submit your topic selection and team contract in the assignment on Canvas. One submission per team is sufficient. Missing this deadline will result in a Beginner mark for the project for the team.
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Report 🔗: By 11:59 pm on Thursday March 19th, your team must submit your report detailed above in the assignment on Canvas. One submission per team is sufficient. Missing this deadline will result in a Beginner mark for the project for the team.
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Video Submission 🔗: By 11:59 pm on Tuesday April 28th, your team must submit your final video in the assignment on Canvas. One submission per team is sufficient. Missing this deadline will result in a Beginner mark for the project for the team.
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Peer and Self Review 🔗: By 11:59 on Tuesday April 28th, each team member must submit a peer and self review form in the assignment on Canvas. Missing this deadline will result in a Beginner mark for the project for you individually.
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