This class is concerned with the challenges, constraints, phenomena, mechanisms and techniques involved in feedback-directed/dynamic translation and optimization. These topics should be the focus of our class time.
Class should be a discussion, not a presentation: Assume that everybody has read the paper relatively thoroughly. High-level content of the paper can be summarized on a single slide stating the major contributions of the paper. Motivation/philosophy are important, but should not take more than 10 minutes of class time, in most cases. Discussion should be centered on the phenomena and techniques discussed in the paper.
Specifically, select 2-4 major items in the paper (that we haven't beaten to death in previous classes) as discussion points. For each point the discussion should roughly follow the following flow:
To encourage discussion, some of these should be posed as questions to the class. Your job is to elicit interaction from your peers. Trivial items or subtleties of mechanisms should probably be presented to keep the class moving
Discussion leaders should be (mentally) prepared to describe these mechanisms in detail, but it is not necessary to prepare slides if you are comfortable using a blackboard. Many algorithms and mechanisms, however, benefit from pictorial explanations, so be prepared to show visuals of some sort for complex things. I'm happy to help you select the discussion points and discuss them with you before class (and I won't be happy if you don't meet with me and select poorly).
Please be prepared to end 10 minutes before the end of class, in case there is something I wanted to discuss in particular that you did not select for discussion. In addition, I may periodically hijack the role of discussion leader to emphasize points, summarize, or otherwise guide discussion. Please don't interpret these as any failure on your part.
Material from supporting papers is great, but should not be covered at the expenses of material from the assigned paper. Everyone is prepared to discuss material from the assigned reading, so we should make sure that is covered before discussing advanced material.
Here is an example presentation from a previous semester that I think does a nice job of asking questions to motivate discussion.
You should provide me a copy of your slides prior to the presentation. I prefer that you to email them to me at least an hour before class, but bringing me a hard copy to class is sufficient.