Guo, Liwei; Jiang, James; (2025) Development of an algorithm for strategic group allocation. In: Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI 2025). SEFI: Tampere, Finland.

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Abstract

Teamwork is often highly rated by employers as one of the most important professional skills for engineering graduates. Group allocation has a significant influence on the group performance and student learning experiences. In this practice paper we present a new algorithm for strategic group allocation developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. The aim is to achieve balanced skill sets within each group so students can perform well collaboratively as a group no matter what the task is, and they not only learn from the teaching staff but also from each other. The algorithm starts by collecting student self-evaluation data from a skill survey and then uses a standard genetic algorithm to optimise group allocation. So far, the data shows students worked well in the groups allocated by the new algorithm, and teaching staff also praised the streamlined workflow of the algorithm.

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