Managing Project Teams in an Online Class of 1000+ Students

Abstract

Team projects in Computer Science (CS) help students build collaboration skills, apply theory, and prepare for real-world software development. Online classes present unique opportunities to transform the accessibility of CS education at scale. Still, the geographical distribution of students and staff adds complexity to forming effective teams, providing consistent feedback, and facilitating peer interactions. We discuss our approach of managing, evaluating, and providing constructive feedback to over 200 project teams, comprising 1000+ graduate students distributed globally, two professors, and 25+ teaching assistants. We deployed and iteratively refined this approach over 10 years while offering the Data and Visual Analytics course (CSE 6242) at Georgia Institute of Technology. Our approach and insights can help others striving to make CS education accessible, especially in online and large-scale settings.