Outline

Overview

Machine learning is the process of automatically building mathematical models that explain and generalise datasets. It integrates elements of statistics and algorithm development into the same discipline. Data mining is a discipline within knowledge discovery that seeks to facilitate the exploration and analysis of large quantities for data, by automatic and semiautomatic means. This subject provides a practical and technical introduction to machine learning and data mining. Topics to be covered include problems of discovering patterns in the data, classification, regression, feature extraction and data visualisation. Also covered are analysis, comparison and usage of various types of machine learning techniques and statistical techniques.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Computer Science
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	COMP4318 OR OCMP5318
Assumed knowledge ?	Experience with programming and data structures as covered in COMP2123 OR COMP2823 or COMP9123 (or equivalent unit of study from different institutions).
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Irena Koprinska, irena.koprinska@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Irena Koprinska, irena.koprinska@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Maryam Khanian Najafabadi, maryam.khaniannajafabadi@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 2 April 2024

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Supervised exam ?	Final exam Exam	60%	Formal exam period	2 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Small continuous assessment	Weekly homeworks Homework exercises	5%	Multiple weeks	n/a
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Assignment 1 Computer program. Group assignment.	10%	Week 07 Due date: 08 Apr 2024 at 23:59	n/a
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Assignment 2 Computer program and report. Group assignment.	25%	Week 11 Due date: 10 May 2024 at 23:59	n/a
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ? = group assignment ?

Assessment summary

Weekly homeworks - weekly homeworks submitted online
Assignment 1 – writing a computer program to solve a given task and a report discussing the results.
Assignment 2 – writing a computer program to solve a given task and a report discussing the results.
Exam – supervised exam during exam period
Exam requirement: a minimum of 40% at the exam is required to pass this course

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Weekly homeworks - no late submissions are allowed; Assignment 1 and Assignment 2: Late submissions are allowed up to 3 days late. A penalty of 5% per day late will apply.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy 2023 reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy 2023. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Administrative matters and course overview. Introduction to machine learning and data mining. Data: cleaning, pre-processing and similarity measures.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Nearest neighbour. Rule-based algorithms.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 03	Linear regression. Logistic regression. Overfitting and regularization.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 04	Probability-based learning. Evaluating machine learning methods.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 05	Decision trees. Ensembles.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 06	Support vector machines. Kernels. Dimensionality reduction methods.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 07	Neural networks - perceptrons and backpropagation algorithm.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 08	Deep neural networks – convolutional and recurrent.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 09	Clustering I: Partitional, model-based and hierarchical.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 10	Clustering II: Density-based and grid-based. Evaluating clustering results.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 11	Markov models.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 12	Reinforcement learning.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 13	Revision and exam review.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Textbooks:

1. Ian H. Witten, Eibe Frank, Mark Hall and Christopher J. Pal (2017). Data Mining - Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, 4th edition, Morgan Kaufmann.

2. Pang-Ning Tan, Michael Steinbach, Anuj Karpathe and Vipin Kumar (2019). Introduction to Data Mining, 2nd edition, Pearson.

Books for the practical part using Python:

1. Andreas C. Mueller and Sarah Guido (2016). Introduction to Machine Learning with Python: A Guide for Data Scientists, O'Reilly.

2. Aurelien Geron (2022). Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras and TensorFlow, Second edition, O'Reilly.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. understand the basic principles, strengths, weaknesses and applicability of machine learning algorithms for solving classification, regression, clustering and reinforcement learning tasks.
LO2. have obtained practical experience in designing, implementing and evaluating machine learning algorithms
LO3. have gained practical experience in using machine learning software and libraries
LO4. present and interpret data and information in verbal and written form

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No major changes since S1 2023, only updates - positive student feedback. Introducing weekly exercises.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

COMP5318: Machine Learning and Data Mining

Semester 1, 2024 [Normal evening] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect