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Although undergraduate enrollment in Computer Science has remained strong and seen substantial increases in the past decade, retention of majors remains a significant concern, particularly for students at the freshman and sophomore level that are tackling foundational courses on algorithms and data structures. In this work, we present BRIDGES, a software infrastructure designed to enable the creation of more engaging assignments in introductory data structures courses by providing students with a simplified API that allows them to populate their own data structure implementations with live, real-world, and interesting data sets, such as those from popular social networks (e.g., Twitter, Facebook). BRIDGES also provides the ability for students to create and explore {\em visualizations} of the execution of the data structures that they construct in their course assignments, which can promote better understanding of the data structure and its underlying algorithms; these visualizations can be easily shared via a weblink with peers, family, and instructional staff. In this paper, we present the BRIDGES system, its design, architecture and its use in our data structures course over two semesters.
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Real-World Assignments at Scale to Reinforce the Importance of Algorithms and Complexity
Computer Science students in algorithm courses often drop out and feel that what they are learning is disconnected from real life programming. Instructors, on the other hand, feel that algorithmic content is foundational for the long term development of students. The disconnect seems to stem from students not perceiving the importance of algorithmic paradigms, and how they impact performance in applications. We present the point of view that by solving real-world problems where algorithmic paradigms and complexity matter, students will become more engaged with the course and appreciate its importance. Our approach relies on a lean educational framework that provides simplified access to real life datasets and benchmarking features. The assignments we present are all scaffolded, and easily integrated into most algorithms courses. Feedback from using some of the assignments in various courses is presented to argue for the validity of the approach.
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- PAR ID:
- 10158622
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- CCSC NE
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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