COS 226, Fall 2015: Flipped Lectures

Computer Science 226
Algorithms and Data Structures
Fall 2015

FLIPPED LECTURES

As an alternative to traditional lectures, we offer a flipped lecture option. Flipped lectures are self-paced and students are expected to watch recorded lecture videos prior to attending class. The flipped sections meet only once a week (on Thursday's) and are designed to engage students with hands-on activities in a group or collaborative setting. Flipped lectures can be helpful for those who are looking for an alternative instructional strategy other than traditional lectures. Flipped lectures are only recommended for those who can manage their time well to watch video lectures and perform interactive activities prior to the class. Monday is designated as the "film day" where students watch video lectures (individually or as a group). Flipped lectures meet in person from 11-12:20pm on Wednesday's in Frist 307 (attendance required) (except for the first and last lecture, where you attend the traditional lecture).

To apply for SPRING 2016 , complete this application as soon as possible. The flipped lecture is limited to 30 students and so apply early. It will be mostly first come first served basis, so apply asap. We often have a wait list for the course.

HOW TO APPLY

Before applying for the flipped lecture option, think carefully about your learning style. You may be a good candidate for the flipped lecture

If you can learn from video lectures.
You do not always keep up with the pace of traditional lecture (or get distracted and do other things in a traditional lecture).
You are motivated to complete pre-lecture activities.
You are ready to be challenged with more conceptual questions than conventional questions.

If interested, complete this application asap. The flipped lecture is limited to 30 students. You will be notified by Thursday midnight if you are allowed to be part of the flipped lecture. We often receive more application than we can accommodate. Therefore, please make sure that flipped lecture is a good option for you in this course. You will have 2-weeks to switch back to traditional lecture just in case you change your mind. After 2-weeks, you will be transferred to the L02 section of the course.

FLIPPED LECTURE SCHEDULE

Flipped lectures follow the same schedule as the traditional lecture. You do the same assignments, do the same Blackboard exercises, take the same midterm and final exam. Flipped lecture students can opt out of attending friday precepts (although you are encouraged to attend precept).

#	DATE	TOPICS	VIDEOS	SLIDES	QUIZ	WORKSHEET
1	9/17	Union Find (attend traditional lecture)	watch	read	do	–
2	9/24	Analysis of Algorithms	watch	read	do	–
3	9/25	Stacks and Queues	watch	read	do	–
4	10/1	Elementary Sorts	watch	read	do	–
5	10/1	MergeSort	watch	read	do	–
6	10/8	Quicksort	watch	read	–	–
7	10/8	Priority Queues	watch	read	do	–
8	10/15	Elementary Symbol Tables · BSTs	watch	read	do	–
9	10/15	Geometric Applications of BST	watch	read	do	–
10	10/22	Balanced Search Trees	watch	read	do	–
11	10/22	HashTables - ST applications	watch	read	do	–
12	10/27	Midterm Exam	watch	read	–	–
13	10/29	Undirected Graphs	watch	read	do	–
14	11/12	Directed Graphs	watch	read	do	–
15	11/12	Minimum Spanning Trees	watch	read	do	–
16	11/19	Shortest Paths	watch	read	do	–
17	11/19	Maximum Flow	watch	read	do	–
18	11/26	String Sorts	watch	read	do	–
19	11/26	Tries	watch	read	do	–
20	12/3	Data Compression	watch	read	do	–
21	12/3	Substring Search	watch	read	do	–
22	12/10	Regular Expressions	watch	read	do	–
23	12/10	Data Compression	watch	read	–	–
24	12/17	Reductions	watch	read	–	–
25	12/17	Algorithmic Interview Questions (attend traditional lecture)	watch	read	–	–

FLIPPED LECTURE ACTIVITIES

Flipped lecture students are expected to complete the following activities prior to the flipped meeting session on Thursday:

Watch the video lectures by Prof. Bob Sedgewick. (See a sample video)
Provide Comments. You are expected to provide at least 3 comments on videos (anonymous comments are fine). Comments can be of the form of questions, discussion topics or things of interest related to the specific video you are watching.
Respond to local Prompts. In some videos, specially marked "local prompts" appear at the beginning of the comments thread and are designed to engage you as you watch the videos.
Take the HTML quiz. Use this quiz to test your basic understanding of the concepts after you watch the videos.
Like comments. If you see comments that you'd like to discuss in class, vote.

THE FORMAT

The flipped lectures are at the same time as the traditional lectures.
Tuesday: This is the "film" day. You are expected to watch videos on your own and engage
Thursday: This is the "meeting" day. We will meet in Sherrod 001 in a small collaborative setting. Here is the general format of the flipped lecture on Thursday:

Review of Week's concepts (30 minutes). Mini lecture and discussion.
Solve group exercises (30 minutes). Solve short problems, individually.
Discussion of Solutions (20 minutes) as small self-organized groups

Flipped lectures are synchronized with the regular lecture so you can switch back to regular lecture during the first two week of Classes.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

What Princeton students have to say about flipped lectures. Kaitlin (Katie) Hanss is a Princeton junior majoring in Computer Science. In Fall 2014, she took the flipped lecture session. Listen to Katie to understand the overall impression of flipped lectures, how she prepares for the class, about the mini lecture, how the individual and group worksheets help learn more conceptual ideas etc.

ACCESSING VIDEO LECTURES

Interactive technology plays a major role in structuring the flipped classes. We are using the video and document annotation platform Classroom Salon to access and annotate the lecture videos. Each lecture video is divided into smaller videos of approximately 10-15 minutes each. For example, analysis of algorithms is a collection of 5 short video lectures. You can control the speed of the lecture videos to pace them appropriately for your learning style. To gain access to the classroom salon platform: The salon is no longer active .
Please visit Spring 2016 flipped page for new information.

Create a Salon account - http://classroomsalon.com:8081/main.aspx#register using the code: popcity.
After you create an account, join this salon - http://classroomsalon.com:8081/salons/view.aspx?id=2427 to access the videos.

Mobile Access Videos can be accessed from a mobile device such as a tablet or phone. Simply place a browser shortcut to http://classroomsalon.com:8081/mobile on your mobile desktop. We highly recommend using a Chrome browser on your mobile device.
If you have trouble signing up, email Dr. Ananda Gunawardena (Guna) (guna@cs.princeton.edu).

COURSE ENGAGEMENT

It is critical that you engage with course videos and other students, so we can maximize the learning opportunities for all. Classroom Salon promotes social learning to allow students to learn in a small collaborative setting. There are few tools that we will use to do this.

Networking. You need to select your own small learning network to engage closely. The network members can be the one's who sit together in the flipped class. You still have access to all annotations from all students but network provides a way to engage with a smaller subset of the class.

Commenting. As you watch the videos, you can add location specific comments using tags to categorize them. This is an important part of your flipped learning experience. The comments you make will help you reflect on the video as well as inform us how we should conduct the flipped session. In general make at least 3 comments (more is better) per lecture/week using some pre-defined tags. You can make comments anonymous if necessary.
Here is a list (or a variation) of the most common tags:

I find this interesting: something you find to be very interesting.
I need a clarification here: something you need further clarification.
I'd like to discuss this more: flag topics that you want discussed in more depth.
I find this difficult to understand: concepts you did not understand at all.
Define your own tag: You can write your own tag to describe a comment.

You may use the same tag more than once. You can make your comments anonymous if needed.

In-video prompts. Look for special questions embedded into specific places of the video titled "local prompts". You can click on the time stamp for the comment to find the location for the local prompt. Click on the "reply" button on the comment to respond and then expand the replies to see the correct answer.

Participation points. You will earn points for participation. You can receive up to 5 course percentage points for your participation. Classroom Salon will always show you your activity levels. The Salon Engagement Score is a continuous reflection of your engagement compared to all others in the flipped lecture. The score is provided as a way for you to know where you are in the course and encourage you to improve your engagement.

Learn from others. We learn best by observing what others do and do not do. In Classroom Salon, you will be able to see what others have commented on. Read them when you can, vote on them and reply or extend the replies as necessary. Even if you do not make any comments in a particular video, endorse other student comments so we can discuss them online or in class.

Computer Science 226 Algorithms and Data Structures Fall 2015