Activity logs

Updates in red were inserted on 3/19/2026, and apply only to the second half of the semester.

A significant component of your grade for COMP560 will be determined by your activity log. Your activity log is a private Teams channel in which the only participants are you and the instructors. Please create your own activity log in our Team when you begin working on the project. Guidance:

• Please name your activity log channel “Your Name activity log” e.g. “John MacCormick activity log”. Make sure it is a private channel and give access to the three instructors.
• The activity log should record essentially everything you do for the project. This includes time you spend:
  • reading background materials, literature and documentation;
  • writing code, debugging, conducting experiments, producing results;
  • writing reports, papers, presentations, posters etc.;
  • attending meetings or working with other students;
  • any other activity related to the project.
• Because a significant component of your grade is determined by effort rather than achievement, you should be assiduous in logging your activity. The instructors will be able to give you favorable grade for effort only if your activity log makes it obvious that you have been spending at least 107 hours per week working on our project.
• It is suggested you post at least one message to your activity log on every day on which you spend time working on our project. Each message should be a few sentences describing your activity (aim for, say, 50 words – but more is better!).
  • Example: In some particular week you spend the following time working on COMP560: 3 hours on Monday, one hour on Wednesday to attend our weekly evening meeting, 4 hours on Thursday, and 4 hours on Saturday. Then you should post four separate activity log messages describing your activities on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
• If you post fewer than two messages per week, you will likely receive a failing grade unless there is very strong alternative evidence of your effort on the project (e.g. substantial commits to our code repository, or concrete achievements such as research reports).

Activity Log schedule for MP3 and MP4

This section was added on March 25, 2026. It is an adapted from a Teams message posted to the General channel on 3/3:

Spring Break weeks:

• 3/4 - 3/17 – This two-week period includes the free week of Spring Break itself (3/7-3/15) and another few free days on either side of spring break (3/4-3/6 and 3/16-17).

MP3:

• 3/18 - 3/24 – first week of MP3
• 3/25 - 3/31 – second week of MP3
• 4/1 - 4/7 – third week of MP3 : Total expectation, three weeks of work spread over 3/4-4/7

MP4:

• 4/8 - 4/14 – “free” week; but any logged hours count towards MP4
• 4/15 - 4/21 – first week of MP4
• 4/22 - 4/28 – second week of MP4
• 4/29 - 5/1 – third week of MP4 (actually only 3 days) : Total expectation, three weeks of work spread over 4/8-5/1

In addition, you can continue to log hours during the exam period if you wish, and these will also contribute to MP4. However, there is no expectation for you to work on this course during the exam period.