Your main learning on this unit will happen in twice-weekly workshops where you will solve problem sheets in groups with other students. There will be 20 workshops in total, two each in weeks 13-17 and 19-23. Week 18 is reading week where there are no timetabled activities, and in Week 24 the workshops are replaced by support sessions for revision week.
We expect you to prepare for each workshop by attending the lectures and reading the lecture notes (in any order you prefer). In the workshop itself, you will work on a problem sheet, and sample solutions will usually be provided a few days later.
The workshops are mandatory and we expect all students to attend 19 out of 20 workshops, we do not mind if you miss one in total across the entire unit.
Although lectures are “highly recommended”, we do not enforce attendance there, and you cannot use attendance at lectures to compensate for missed workshops.
Drop-in sessions are optional, and we do not take attendance there either.
This is the official wording of the attendance hurdles, as agreed with the school:
Attending at least 75% of the labs/workshops and engaging with the lab work is a “must pass” hurdle for this unit.
The details are:
- There are 20 mandatory lab/workshops, two each in weeks 13-17 and 19-23.
- If you are unwell, you can self-certify your absence using the following form: Notication of absence form COMS1012, COMS10013 and COMS10014 or by emailing coms-student-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk, then the lab/workshop counts as attended.
- The hurdle is set at 75% which is 15 out of 20 workshops.
If for any reason we need to cancel a workshop, then we will give attendance for everyone involved. A workshop is only cancelled if we announce that officially on the unit page and on Teams.
Attendance will be recorded using one of several different methods - you will be informed at the start of the unit.
If you are unwell for a workshop, you must self-certify your absence with the school on the day. You do not need a doctor’s note for this. A self-certified workshop counts the same as an attended one for attendance tracking purposes. If you need to be absent for another reason, ask the school for permission first.
To self-certify your absence on the day, please use this form. You will need to log in with your university account.
For all other questions about self-certification and absence, ask the school office at coms-student-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk - not your unit lecturers or TAs, they have no access to the self-certify system.
If you have registered a disability with the university, or you have caring responsibilities (for example, you are a parent) then you should talk to the school about possible exceptions from the attendance hurdle.
If you miss more than one workshop without self-certifying, your tutor will be informed, and repeated unexcused absences without good reason may be noted on your student record and lead to further consequences. In extreme cases, a student who is not engaging with their course may be required to withdraw from the university.
In past years, there have been cases where missing attendance hurdles was one of several factors that led to students being required to withdraw from the university without a degree. These were extreme cases (and the students involved also failed other units), but they do show that we take the hurdle seriously.
If you are struggling with the unit or the course for any reason, you must inform your personal tutor as soon as possible. On no account should you think “I’ve fallen behind - so I’ll stop going to the workshops”; that leads to falling further behind and usually to failing the year.