Team assignments in CS 322 “Data Structures & Algorithms II” Jey Veerasamy CIS Adjunct Faculty Baker College Online

CS 321 & CS 322 contents CS 321 focuses on data structures: arrays, linked lists, vectors, stacks and queues, then a little about recursion algorithms. CS 322 covers advanced data structures like hash tables, binary trees, AVL trees, and graphs, but the focus is more on algorithms: divide-and-conquer, greedy & dynamic programming approaches to solve various problems.

CS 322 Team Assignments Goals: –Make students analyze the problems (a.k.a. critical thinking) –Bring ideas to solve them based on those three approaches to the table –Validate each other’s ideas –Settle on the “right” data structures & arrive at the detailed pseudocode

What problems? I use classic problems like Knapsack problem, company party problem, activity scheduling problem, Huffman coding algorithm. Typically these algorithms are taught in graduate courses. So, I try my best to provide “just enough” help to start meaningfully and progress meaningfully. P S1 S2 S3

When & How? Spans 2 weeks: High level approach in Week 4 and low level pseudocode in Week 5. I assign 2 to 3 designers & 2 to 3 reviewers for each problem. All discussions done in Weekly discussion forums, NOT in group forums.

Student’s roles Each student is a designer for one problem (40 points) and also a reviewer for another problem (20 points). I reverse the roles in Week 5 for each problem. P1 P2 S P1 P2 S Design ReviewDesign Review Week 4Week 5

Week 4 Process Start of Week 4: designers find the optimal solution for sample input manually and reviewers test it out. Week 4: designers come up with a few workable ideas, reviewers comment on them. End of Week 4: Try to zero in on one approach & verify it for a few sample inputs manually.

Week 5 process Start Week 5 with solid understanding of high level approach. Bring in the right data structures & details Verify its validity again by testing with a sample inputs.

What is good Students enjoy the experience. When one student hits the wall, another student brings up an idea, that keeps the team moving. Students learn to work with other’s “incomplete” ideas, practice their skills to give “constructive criticisms”.

Need to work on Sometimes students become impatient and find the solution using “web search”  even though I stress on the “thinking process”, NOT the “end- result”. I try to ensure there is at least one “leader” in each team. But, there are times I end up with no leaders in the team  No one starts the discussion! Some students refuse to post their ideas since they are not sure those ideas will work 