-- This message is sent on behalf of Prof. Wulfram Gerstner --
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Dear students of Artificial Neural Networks,
I have been sick last week and had to stay in bed. That is why the class last Friday was canceled in the first place. When I was feeling better, I discovered that EPFL had canceled all Friday classes last week to give teachers (and students) some time for the transition to online classes. Because of my sickness, I am late with this transition and I apologise for this.
So here is the plan:
1. Last week you received the slides and exercises for week 4 (Policy gradient algorithms) which covers methods of policy gradient. I will NOT ADD new material this Friday. Please use the next days, Friday this week, and possible also some hours next week to go over the annotated slides and exercises for this session RL3.
2. Since I am still a bit weak after my sickness, I do not feel fit enough yet (and I do not have the voice yet) to do 2 hours of online teaching this Friday. My plan is to record videos of the slide show, but this will take a bit of time since I have to work out how to integrate the blackboard parts. Please be patient. Videos will not be ready for this Friday.
3. For the moment, work on the exercises of week 4, go to the slides and to the textbook if you get stuck. During the exercise session 9h30 to 10h30 and during the normal lecture time from 10h30 to 12h35 this Friday, the TA team will be available to answer your questions. We will use a slack workspace and zoom meetings to make this as interactive as possible. Specific instructions on that part will be announced on moodle tomorrow.
4. I hope that by Friday next week, I have the material ready for week 5.
5. Videos for week 4 will come out with a delay.
6. Overall I will drop the material of one of the later weeks (which will then also not be a part of the exam).
I hope that you all succeed to adjust to the new situation. Please stay at home. In order relax, you can go out for a walk on lonely streets at times when you are unlikely to encounter anybody, do not go jogging at places where people are around. Avoid meeting people. Talk with friends over video in order to stay in social contact. Most likely these measures will be necessary for many weeks.
I hope that we all get healthily through this very special situation!
Best regards
Wulfram Gerstner
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