Individualized instruction in computer science

The concept of individualized instruction centered around a rather extensive research project has been present in education for centuries. As recently as fifty years ago many colleges and universities required some form of thesis for bachelors and masters degrees, as well as for the doctorate. However, with the pressure of increasing numbers of students the emphasis on individual study has abated to such an extent that in many schools only the PhD students have a real opportunity to engage in extensive individual work. Over the past two years we have been attempting a small reversal in this trend. During this period we have supervised nearly two dozen projects done by individual students or small student groups at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. After the first semester of this effort we established a set of guidelines which we have been following in subsequent project work. Our present guidelines form the Appendix to this paper.