Expanding students' social networks via optimized team assignments (Q6596993)

The paper studies the way students' social network expands via optimized team assignments. It develops a mathematical model for assigning students to teams based on social network analysis, and describes extensions and hybridization techniques. An effective mathematical optimization framework is proposed using spreadsheets. An empirical study is performed with data from more than 250 students in 10 industrial engineering classes over the course of one year in both face-to-face and virtual settings. The paper analyzes and compares related assignment methods such as random, self, and clique oriented to the optimized assignment method. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, it is found that 30\% more ties on average can be obtained by the proposed approach compared to randomly assigning students into teams.