Enhancing Faculty-Student Interaction in an Undergraduate Algorithms Course Through Group Oral Presentations

Abstract

The learning goals of an undergraduate algorithms course are often well suited to written homework assignments involving proof writing. However, asynchronously assigning and grading written homework lacks several desirable outcomes, such as direct faculty-student engagement, incentives for appropriate student collaboration, or efficient means of providing detailed feedback. This paper is an experience report on the application of homework teams and oral presentations in an undergraduate algorithms course, which have been proposed in other contexts as means of accomplishing these goals. Students are expected to complete written homework solutions in teams and present randomly selected problems orally in team meetings with the faculty member. The oral presentations provide individual accountability for understanding the homework solutions, balancing a typical deficiency of group work and increasing faculty-student interaction in the process. Students reported that the combination of group collaboration and individual accountability was beneficial to their learning, and that the oral presentations were useful practice for situations beyond the class, such as senior oral exams and technical interviews.