Algorithm Visualization Education

Much of this site supports those who want to use AVs to teach. This page is meant to provide information for those who want to teach about AVs.

Models for Graduate Courses

A typical model for teaching a graduate course on AVs would be a seminar-style course based on reading/discussing research papers and doing a semester project. Below are links to some instances of courses along these lines. A key consideration is gathering a reasonable list of papers. The annotated bibliography is a good source of information. You can also check the reading lists in the course sites below.

Graduate courses often have a semester project. Doing an AV is a natural thing to do. I recommend having students work in teams of 2-4 rather than do it solo. Even with a team, a good quality AV is difficult to achieve in only one semester (as opposed to a poor-quality prototype, which is trivial to do in a semester even for one person). Students should also be exposed to the process of reviewing AVs. Instructors are welcome to contact me (see my profile if you would like for you and your students to have edit permission to put reviews in place in the catalog). A good exercise is to have the students in the class review each other's projects at a suitable mid-point in the semester, giving enough time so that the projects can act on the peer reviews.

Previous Course Offerings in Algorithm Visualizations

Tom Naps: Graduate Seminar on Evaluation of the Educational Impact of Visualization - Interaction and Engagement in CS Learning Environments (period I, 2007) at Helsinki University of Technology http://www.cs.hut.fi/Studies/T-106.5800/Engagement/

Tom Naps: Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms (period II, 2007) at Helsinki University of Technology http://jhave.cs.hut.fi/adv_dsa/

Cliff Shaffer: CS6604: Algorithm Visualization (Spring 2008) at Virginia Tech http://people.cs.vt.edu/~shaffer/CS6604/