Technology for facilitating and analyzing interviews in large groups

This thesis presents a system for leveraging simple technologies to improve the robustness, efficiency, and effectiveness of interviews in the context of a large network. The technology was used in the context of a successful activity-the Leadership Module-to teach leadership and communication to a group of engineering sophomores. The Leadership Module combines principles in education, organization behavior, and algorithms to improve the student learning experience. Two separate iterations of the activity explored the tradeoff between data gathering and student feedback. The power method of eigenvalue analysis was used to rank student evaluations of leadership effectively and robustly, yet provided insufficient feedback for students. Revising the activity to focus on visioning and collaborating resulted in a more relevant lesson for students. The system can be extended to other applications, especially speed dating and other academic courses.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Zhou, Joey Y

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles E. Leiserson.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46529

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/46529