This page describes Dean Brock's policy for group homework for the Fall 2001 semester.
This policy is largely the work of Sam Kaplan of UNCA's Math department. All I did was add a few special rules regarding programming assignments.
All homework, including programming assignments, will involve group work. For written homework assignments, assigned problems must first be worked individually. Then the group will meet to compare and discuss the individual solutions. One final version from each group will be submitted for grading.
For programming assignments, all group members are expected to perform a decomposition of the programming task before the initial group meeting. During the group meetings, the programming and testing chores will be divided among the group members. The group should continue to meet, perhaps via email, until the programming task is successfully completed.
Groups will be formed by the instructor. If there are some particular reason why two people should be in the same group, you should send email to the me stating your reasons. Good reasons include "X and Y have full-time job and need to meet at times that may be difficult for others." Bad reasons include "X always has to tell Y how to do the homework."
Each group will consist of three or four members, with each member having an assigned role. The three roles described below should be rotated each week.
The manager is responsible for scheduling the group meetings, and notifying all group members of the times and places.
For written homework assignments, the scribe is responsible for writing and submitting the solution in a common web-friendly format such as ASCII text, HTML, or Adobe PDF. For programming assignments, the scribe is responsible for collecting modules written by the team members and placing them into a format suitable for submission. It is the output of the scribe that will be graded.
The reporter keeps a record of the work sessions, the particular difficulties in constructing the solution, and the roles and responsibilities of individual team members. The reporter must submit his/her report in a suitable electronic format.