grading-criteria.md

Grading Criteria of the KTH Devops Course

• We are all aware that assessment may be subjective in nature. In case of disagreement, the informed judgment of the Professor is the final decision.
• Presentation and demos are mandatory.
• In case of a task failure, the students receive instructions for repetition through Canvas

Presentations

The concept: The students prepare a 7 minute presentation on a topic that is relevant to DevOps. All students in a presentation must be present and speak in a balanced manner.

	Yes	No
timing: The presentation's length is between 6:30-7:30 minutes (hard limit)	Mandatory	-
structure: The presentation is well-structured, the structure announced and graphically visible	Yes	No
introduction: The presentation contains a good, motivating introduction telling why this presentation is important	Yes	No
content: The presentation contains one part that is deeply technical, with readable code snippets	Yes	No
originality: The presentation contains one part that is original (less than 1000 google results)	Yes	No
reflection: The presentation contains a reflective part	Yes	No
conclusion: The last slide contains a good and concise take-home message	Yes	No
understanding: The speakers demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic and can effectively respond to questions from the audience.	Yes	No
delivery: The speakers talk loudly and clearly, engage with the audience and have humour	Yes	No
slides: The slides don't have too much text and contain nice illustrations	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".

Scientific Papers

The concept: The students prepare a 7 minute presentation on one scientific paper related to DevOps. Papers must be published in the main proceedings of software engineering or computer security venues.

	Yes	No
timing: The presentation's length is between 6:30-7:30 minutes (hard limit)	Yes	No
structure: The presentation is well-structured, the structure announced and graphically visible	Yes	No
introduction: The presentation contains a good, motivating introduction telling why the paper is important	Yes	No
content: The presentation contains one part that is deeply technical, with readable code snippets	Yes	No
critical: The presentation contains a critical part	Yes	No
related-work: The presentation discusses two more related papers which are not in the bibliography	Yes	No
conclusion: The last slide contains a good and concise take-home message	Yes	No
understanding: The speakers demonstrate a clear understanding of the paper's content and can effectively respond to questions from the audience.	Yes	No
delivery: The speakers talk loudly and clearly, engage with the audience and have humour	Yes	No
slides: The slides don't have too much text and contain nice illustrations	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".

Demos

The concept: Students prepare a demonstration involving DevOps technology, to be performed during the lecture. For example, a demo typically involves multiple virtual machines, likely deployed in the cloud. A demonstration is scripted, prepared and lasts 6:30-7:30 minutes.

	Yes	No
timing: The demo lasts between 6:30-7:30 minutes (hard limit)	Mandatory	-
relevant: The demonstration is clearly motivated (why it matters for Devops?)	Yes	No
narrative: The demo contains a good narrative	Yes	No
difficulty: The demonstration is difficult to do	Yes	No
speech: The demo is accompanied by a clearly and structured speech	Yes	no
originality: The demonstration is original (there are few demos/tutos on this topic on the Internet)	Yes	No
aesthetics: The demo is visually appealing	Yes	No
engagement: The speakers engage with the audience, possibly with an easter egg	Yes	No
liveness: The speakers update some code / config live	Yes	No
take-home: The demo includes a clear and visible take-home message	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".

Open-source contributions

The concept: you contribute to one open-source project related to DevOps. Yout get at least one merged pull-request. Criteria for the selection of the open-source project: 1) The project is related to DevOps 2) The project has more than 100 Commits 3) The project has an active community on GitHub.

	Yes	No
difficulty: The contribution is a difficult piece of engineering, either a bug fix or a new feature	Mandatory	-
declaration of intention: The intention to contribute is declared in the project's preferred method (e.g., issue, mailing list).	Yes	No
work-in-progress (WIP): The contribution is marked as WIP until it is ready for review.	Yes	No
ready for review: The contribution is marked as ready and announced for review when it is complete.	Yes	No
conversation: The contributor engages in conversation with the project maintainers, responding to feedback in a timely manner and making necessary changes.	Yes	No
documentation: The contribution includes necessary documentation updates.	Yes	No
testing: The contribution includes necessary testing.	Yes	No
code quality: The code contributed is of high quality, following the project's coding standards and guidelines.	Yes	No
relevance: The contribution is relevant to the project's roadmap and adds value to the project.	Yes	No
merge: The contribution is merged in the main branch of the target project.	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".

Executable Tutorials

The concept: you create an executable tutorial about a specific technology related to Devops. You deliver your tutorial on an online platform supporting execution, such as KillerKoda, mybinder.org, collab or equivalent.

	Yes	No
no-account: The tutorial does not require to open complex or paying accounts for the grader. Secrets can be shared with the course GPG key	Mandatory	-
executable: The tutorial can be automatically executed from beginning to the end in the browser	Mandatory	-
ilo: The tutorial states the intended learning outcomes.	Mandatory	-
motivation: The tutorial is clearly motivated (why it matters for Devops?)	Yes	No
background: The tutorial gives enough background	Yes	No
illustrated: The tutorial is illustrated with some informative figures (eg flowchart)	Yes	No
pedagogical: The tutorial is easy to follow	Yes	No
original: The tutorial is original, no or few similar tutorials exist on the web	Yes	No
easter-eggs: The tutorial contains an easter egg	Yes	No
language: The language is appropriate (structure, grammar, spelling)	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".

Feedback

The concept: you provide constructive and timely feedback about any task except "feedback". The feedback is provided in a written manner as a well-structured comment on the PR of the task. The feedback is given before the actual delivery of the task (before the presentation, before the deadline).

	Yes	No
substance: the feedback is substantiated (at least 500 words)	Mandatory	-
generative AI: the feeback contains "I/We certify that generative AI, incl. ChatGPT, has not been used to write this feedback. Using generative AI without permission is considered academic misconduct."	Mandatory	-
timeliness: the feedback is provided 2 business days after the "go" from the authors	Yes	No
positive: the feedback starts with a list of high-level strengths and positive comments	Yes	No
high-level: the feedback points to clear high-level weaknesses about the work	Yes	No
constructive: all feedback points are constructive and clearly actionable	Yes	No
structure: the feedback is well-structured (eg. along the outline of the work under feedback)	Yes	No
pointers: the feedback contains valuable pointers to additional material	Yes	No
respectful: the feedback is delivered in a respectful and professional manner	Yes	No
humor: the feedback is delivered with a touch of humor, making it more engaging and easier to receive	Yes	No

To pass, you must have at least 8 "yes".