More cleverly try to space students out.

[chmullig]

The current "algorithm" is nice because it will be reasonably deterministic. It's bad because it's pretty dumb. Can we make it smarter, without making you fight it?

[kevin1]

We could have a default algorithm for simple classrooms like Noco 501 and Pupin 301 (user would just need to specify which desks are lefties). We'll fall back to priority lists for super complicated rooms like Havemeyer 309, where a lot of manual intervention is required.

While I adding Noco (01d796c), I realized that creating the priority list was pretty mechanical. The algorithm it encodes is basically this:

if num_students <= num_seats / 2
    space everyone out as much as possible
else
    for first num_seats / 2 students, assign to every other seat
    for remaining students, assign to empty seats in easily monitored areas
    for remaining students, assign to any empty seats

By default, we would assume that the first k = 3(?) rows from the front are easily accessible/monitored by proctors. The seating map could be extended to define locations of aisles, so that the k seats near aisles will also be treated as easily accessible areas.

[chmullig]

Oh no, you reserve engineered my super secret algo! 😉

…

On Mar 8, 2017, at 3:00 PM, Kevin Chen ***@***.***> wrote: We could have a default algorithm for simple classrooms like Noco 501 and Pupin 301 (user would just need to specify which desks are lefties). We'll fall back to priority lists for super complicated rooms like Havemeyer 309, where a lot of manual intervention is required. While I adding Noco (01d796c), I realized that creating the priority list was pretty mechanical. The algorithm it encodes is basically this: if num_students <= num_seats / 2 space everyone out as much as possible else for first num_seats / 2 students, assign to every other seat for remaining students, assign to empty seats in easily monitored areas for remaining students, assign to any empty seats By default, we would assume that the first k = 3(?) rows from the front are easily accessible/monitored by proctors. The seating map could be extended to define locations of aisles, so that the k seats near aisles will also be treated as easily accessible areas. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.