CS886 - Fall 2023 - In-class Group Exercise


The class will be divided into small groups (roughly groups of 5).
I will decide the grouping. If audits attend, I will assign them
to a group for the brainstorming exercise.

Each group will be asked to:
a) brainstorm on a specific challenge in social networks, explanation and trust
that is only revealed at the beginning of the class
b) provide an informal presentation of the design (all team members speaking)
c) complete a "pencil and paper" exercise, demonstrating deep appreciation
of the solution developed by the group, answering questions provided;
includes an entirely new challenge for the group solution to address

Part b) will be graded. Content and delivery will both be assessed.
Each team member will receive the same grade for Part b).
I will provide a feedback sheet to each group member.
Part c) will be evaluated. Analysis and creativity will both be assessed.
Each student receives their own assessment for Part c).

The grade out of 10 will be a combination of the grade for b) and for c).

NOTE: This exercise is intended to provide students with an opportunity
to reflect on what they have learned and retained from the course,
as well as to gain experience in (and to appreciate) open-ended thinking.
My intention is to grade leniently.

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**New as of Nov 4: We have 21 taking the course for credit and 5 audits.
One of the 21 is unable to attend during class time and will be asked
to complete the groupwork by themselves. We will have 4 groups of 5
from those taking the course for credit and a 5th group consisting of
the audits. Come to class by 925am and we will start in earnest at 930am.
At that time, you will be sent to a breakout room and will learn who
your groupmates are. You will be sent the instructions for the groupwork
by email. The timing will be: 30 minutes for each group to brainstorm
on their solution to the open-ended problem; 10 minutes for the group
to plan its oral presentation of the problem (no slides, just a 10
minute slot where each groupmate is saying at least something (suggest
2 minutes per person but up to you)). There will be 10 minutes for
a break as well. At 1020 we will have presentations, with Instructor
offering questions afterwards for about 2 minutes: 1020 gp1; 1033 gp2;
1046 gp3; 1059 gp 4. At 1115 we will distribute the sheet for
individual work by email. It will be due back to Instructor, cc Gaurav
by 1140. At 1140 we will discuss this exercise and its use of breakout
rooms. At 12noon we will be done.

Note that the group of audits, gp5, will be asked to present their
solution to Instructor and TA at 1115. We will provide a separate Zoom
link for this. They will rejoin the class for discussion at 1140.
They will not be asked to hand in the individual sheet (but we can show).

Note that Instructor will determine who is working with whom, for their group.
One person will be designated as "in charge" for each group, but the group
is welcome to change who that person is, when meeting. Instructor and Gaurav
will circulate from group to group during the first 30 minutes, to see
how you are doing and answer any questions. There will be some fairness
when Instructor determines groups (briefly announced as the class
begins at 930am). It is to everyone's advantage to be on time Nov 17.

Groups will receive feedback by Nov 25 (the presentation and the solution
both determine the first 5 marks and all groupmates receive the same grade).
Students will receive comments on their individual sheet by then as well.
This is worth another 5 marks.

** (posted 9pm November 16) The breakout rooms will be:
gp1: Liam, Olha, Kathryn, Anthony, Ansh
gp2: Crystina, Su, Jiangyue, Sahel, Carter
gp3: Joel, Miles, Kiarash, Chi-Chung, Prashant
gp4: Xueguang, Manveer, Xinyu, Dahlia, Amandeep
gp5: Ryan, Jesse, Casey, Anastasiia, Justin

Older notes on the timing are logged below.

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Older notes on suggested timing, logged below.

The Expected Timing will be as follows:
a) brainstorm on the specific challenge  (40 minutes)
b) provide an informal presentation of the design (30 minutes)
c) complete an individual reflection sheet, demonstrating deep appreciation of
the solution developed by the group, answering questions provided (20 minutes)
d) final discussion in class about the exercise and what we learned (10 minutes)

Time has been budgeted for transition between tasks and a brief break.

If our class size is 21 instead of 15, these times will change to
(40 minutes), (50 minutes), (20 minutes), (10 minutes) and we will
have longer breaks, during the 2.5 hour timeslot.

If our class size is 23, we will have 3 groups of 6 and one group of 5.
Informal presentations will take closer to 55 minutes (2 minutes per person).
The time to complete the individual reflection sheet will likely expand
to 25 minutes, just to give more breathing room for all tasks that day.
The time for final class discussion will be 15 minutes.
The intention will still be to wrap up at 12noon.