Grouping assistance device, grouping assistance method, and program

Abstract

A grouping assistance device for assisting with grouping target persons, the grouping assistance device comprising: an information storage unit that records, as a history, the result of each grouping instance among a plurality of grouping instances; and a control unit that, in a specific grouping instance, selects, on the basis of the history up to the previous instance read from the information storage unit, one or more group candidates from a plurality of group candidates for each target person so as to reduce the number of times that said target person is placed in a group with the same target persons, and displays the selected one or more group candidates on a terminal.

Description

Grouping support device, grouping support method, and program

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for supporting group division in group work that is conducted multiple times.

[0002] In recent years, group work, where students are divided into groups to work on projects, has become common in university lectures, training sessions, and workshops. As a method of active learning at universities, classes are held in which students are divided into groups of several people to discuss and concretize ideas. Group work is also used in corporate training sessions and living lab workshops. In group work, the person conducting the group work typically looks at the participant list and manually divides the students into groups.

[0003] As a conventional method, a method of dividing data into groups with similar attribute values ​​in order to anonymize the data is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. However, this grouping method cannot be applied to grouping in multiple consecutive group work sessions.

[0004] Patent No. 6148370

[0005] As is typical in university classes, group work is often conducted multiple times. One of the purposes of group work is to be stimulated by hearing opinions from other participants that you don't have yourself, or by talking to people you don't normally talk to.

[0006] In group work that is conducted multiple times, if each participant is always grouped with the same people, the participants will have fewer opportunities to be stimulated. Therefore, when dividing participants into groups for group work that is conducted multiple times, it is necessary to reduce the number of times each participant is grouped with the same people. However, conventional technologies such as those disclosed in Patent Document 1 are unable to divide participants into groups in this way.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide a technology for reducing the number of times that each subject of grouping is placed in the same group with the same subject when performing grouping multiple times.

[0008] According to the disclosed technology, there is provided a grouping support device that supports grouping of subjects, comprising: an information storage unit that records the results of each grouping in multiple groupings as a history; and a control unit that, in a specific grouping, selects one or more group candidates from multiple group candidates based on the history up to the previous time read from the information storage unit so that the number of times each subject belongs to the same group is reduced, and displays the selected one or more group candidates on a terminal.

[0009] According to the disclosed technology, a technology is provided for reducing the number of times that each subject of grouping is grouped in the same group when grouping is performed multiple times.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a grouping support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the grouping support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a participant information input page. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group work information input page. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group work participant list. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group candidate list. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an evaluation value list of group candidates. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an evaluation value list of group candidates. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group candidate decision page. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of adopted group candidates. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of an evaluation value list of group candidates. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of adopted group candidates. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a grouping support device.

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0012] In the following description, it is assumed that grouping is performed for group work, but the technology according to the present invention can also be applied to grouping subjects in fields other than group work.

[0013] In this embodiment, the grouping support device 100 (described later) records the history of the grouping results for each group work that is performed multiple times, and in a certain grouping, evaluates group candidates using the history up to the previous time so as to reduce the number of times each subject belongs to the same group with the same subject. This allows each participant to form groups with a variety of people in multiple group work sessions.

[0014] (System Configuration Example) An example of the configuration of a grouping support system according to this embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 1, the grouping support system has a configuration in which a grouping support device 100 and a group work implementer terminal 300 are connected to a network 200.

[0015] In this embodiment, the grouping support device 100 is realized using a web server. The grouping support device 100 is connected to a group work implementer terminal 300 via a network 200. A group work implementer connects to the grouping support device 100 from the group work implementer terminal 300 and inputs information such as the group work participants. The grouping support device 100 also transmits information for grouping support to the group work implementer terminal 300, and the group work implementer terminal 300 displays the information to the group work implementer.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1, the grouping assistance device 100 includes an information input / output unit 110 , a control unit 120 , an information storage unit 130 , and a web page creation unit 140 .

[0017] The information input / output unit 110 inputs information received from the network 200 and outputs information to transmit to the network 200 .

[0018] The control unit 120 executes processes such as calculating evaluation values ​​to provide information related to grouping support, and transmits (displays) various pages to the group work implementer terminal 300 via the information input / output unit 110.

[0019] The web page creation section 140 creates a web page to be displayed on the group work participant terminal 300. The information storage section 130 stores information.

[0020] (Example) An example will be described below as a specific example of the operation of the grouping support system. In this example, an example will be described in which a group work organizer requests 12 group work participants to divide the participants into three groups and carry out group work. However, the number of groups and participants is not limited to this.

[0021] 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the grouping support system in this embodiment. An example of the operation of the grouping support system will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0022] When the group work implementer terminal 300 accesses the URL of the page of the grouping support device 100 based on the operation of the group work implementer, in response, in S1 of Figure 2, the grouping support device 100 displays a participant information input page on the group work implementer terminal 300.

[0023] 3 shows an example of a participant information input page. The participant information input page is a page created by the web page creation unit 140. This page is also sent by the control unit 120 to the group work implementer terminal 300 via the information input unit 110.

[0024] The group work organizer, viewing the participant information input page, enters the participant information. Figure 3 shows the scene where the group work organizer has entered the participant ID (user ID), gender, and contact email address of participants A to L.

[0025] The group work implementer presses the "Next" button on the page shown in Fig. 3. In S2 of Fig. 2, when the control unit 120 of the grouping support device 100 detects that the "Next" button has been pressed (Yes in S2), the control unit 120 confirms the participant information, and in S3, displays a group work information input page on the group work implementer terminal 300. An example of the group work information input page is shown in Fig. 4. That is, on the group work implementer terminal 300, the page transitions from the participant information input page in Fig. 3 to the group work information input page in Fig. 4.

[0026] On the group work information input page shown in Figure 4, the group work implementer inputs the number of group work sessions and also the allowable group size in recommended order. In the example of Figure 4, the number of group work sessions is set to 15, with the most recommended number of participants being 4, the next most recommended number being 3, and the next most recommended number being 5. This reflects the fact that the group work implementer has determined that a group size of more than 6 or less than 2 is outside the allowable range and will make group work impossible. Depending on the number of participants input, the total number of participants can vary from 3 to 12.

[0027] The group work participant presses the "Register" button on the page of Fig. 4. When the control unit 120 of the grouping support device 100 detects that the "Register" button has been pressed in S4 of Fig. 2 (Yes in S4), it generates a group work participant list in S5 and records the generated group work participant list in the information storage unit 130.

[0028] FIG. 5 shows an example of a group work participant list. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the group work participant list stores the "gender and contact email address of participants" for user IDs A to L. Furthermore, the group work participant list includes cells for adding the group to which each participant belongs from the first group work to the fifteenth group work. Each time groupings (group candidates) are determined for each session, the control unit 120 records the group to which each participant belongs as history in the group work participant list. The control unit 120 can calculate an evaluation value, which will be described later, by referencing the history in the group work participant list.

[0029] In S6 of FIG. 2, the control unit 120 generates a group candidate list and records the generated group candidate list in the information storage unit 130. FIG. 6 shows an example of a group candidate list. In this example, the control unit 120 generates 34,650 different group candidates with different combinations of participants, and generates the group candidate list by adding IDs to each of the group candidates. If the 12 participants, A to L, are divided into three groups of four, the number of combinations is (12 x 11 x 10 x 9) / (4 x 3 x 2 x 1) x (8 x 7 x 6 x 5) / (4 x 3 x 2 x 1) = 495 x 70 = 34,650. The above list is a list of these 34,650 group candidates.

[0030] 2, the control unit 120 sets N, which indicates the number of the group work to be performed, to 1. In other words, the first steps S8 to S12 are a flow for determining the group divisions for the first group work.

[0031] In S8, the control unit 120 calculates the evaluation value of the group candidate for the Nth group work, and adds the calculated evaluation value to the evaluation value list of the group candidate.

[0032] The method for calculating the evaluation value will now be described. In this embodiment, a variable is used that is set to 1 if participants belong to the same group and 0 if they do not. A vector consisting of 0s and 1s that indicates whether a participant belongs to the same group as other participants is called an evaluation vector.

[0033] Here, a value indicating whether participant X belongs to the same group as participant Y is N ＸＹ We will express this as follows.

[0034] When group candidate ID=1 (group candidate 1) is selected, the evaluation vector A for participant A is (N ＡＢ , N ＡＣ , N ＡＤ , N ＡＥ , N ＡＦ , N ＡＧ , N ＡＨ , N ＡＩ , N ＡＪ , N ＡＫ , N ＡＬ ) and the values ​​of each element are as follows:

[0035] N ＡＢ = N ＡＣ = N ＡＤ = 1 N ＡＥ = N ＡＦ = N ＡＧ = N ＡＨ = N ＡＩ = N ＡＪ = N ＡＫ = N ＡＬ = 0 In this example, the evaluation value L for participant A Ａ is the size of the evaluation vector A. Ａ L Ａ１ If we express it as Ａ１ can be calculated as follows:

[0036] L Ａ１ =√(1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ ) = √3 The control unit 120 calculates L in the same manner as above. Ｂ１ ~L Ｌ１can be calculated, and the value in both cases is √3. In other words, in the first group work, the number of times a participant is in the same group as other participants cannot exceed 1. In any group, if a participant is in the same group as other participants, the number of times is 1, so the magnitude of the evaluation vectors between participants will be equal.

[0037] Here, the evaluation value of group candidate Y in the Xth group work is EV Ｘ－Ｙ Let's express it as EV. Ｘ－Ｙ is the sum of the magnitude of the evaluation vectors for the group candidate Y in the Xth group work for the participants. Therefore, the evaluation value EV of the group candidate 1 in the first group work is １－１ can be calculated as follows:

[0038] EV １－１ =L Ａ１ +L Ｂ１ +L Ｃ１ +L Ｄ１ +L Ｅ１ +L Ｆ１ +L Ｇ１ +L Ｈ１ +L Ｉ１ +L Ｊ１ +L Ｋ１ +L Ｌ１ = 12√3 In the first group work, regardless of which group candidate is selected, the evaluation value EV Ｘ－Ｙ is equal to 12√3 as shown below.

[0039] EV １－１ =EV １－２ =EV １－３ =...=EV １－３４６５０ In S8, the control unit 120 adds each evaluation value EV of the first group work to the evaluation value list of the group candidates shown in FIG. 7, which is pre-recorded in the information storage unit 130. Ｘ－Ｙ The result of the addition is shown in Fig. 8. The control unit 120 records the list shown in Fig. 8 in the information storage unit 130.

[0040] 2, the control unit 120 selects the group candidate with the smallest evaluation value from all group candidates. However, when N=1, as shown in FIG. 8, all group candidates have the same evaluation value, so all group candidates are selected.

[0041] In S10, the control unit 120 displays a group candidate decision page, which is a page for deciding group candidates, on the group work implementer terminal 300. Fig. 9 shows an example of the group candidate decision page.

[0042] When N=1, all group candidates are selected in S9, and all group candidates are displayed on the group candidate decision page, as shown in Fig. 9. In Fig. 9, underlined participants are female. In other words, the group work promoter can determine the gender of the participants by looking at the group candidate decision page.

[0043] In S11 of Fig. 2, the group work promoter determines which group to adopt from among the group candidates. As described above, in Fig. 9, the underlined participants A, B, E, G, J, and K are female.

[0044] 9, the group work implementer wishes to select group candidates so that the male-female ratio in each group is 1:1. For example, the group work implementer sees that the male-female ratio in each group is 1:1 in group candidate 1, and selects group candidate 1. In group candidate 2, the male-female ratio in group 1 is 1:3, which is not a 1:1 ratio in each group.

[0045] In this way, by changing the display according to the attribute values ​​of the participants, the person in charge of group work can easily select a specific group candidate from multiple options. Also, there may be cases where a person wants to form a group of men only or women only. In such cases, the person in charge of group work can select a group that meets their purpose by looking at the group candidate determination page of FIG. 9. Note that changing the display according to the attribute values ​​of the participants can also be applied when N is 2 or more.

[0046] The following explanation will be given assuming that the group work participant has selected group candidate 1 from all the group candidates. Specifically, the group work participant selects group candidate 1 by checking the selection box in FIG. 9 and pressing the OK button.

[0047] In S11 of FIG. 2 , when the control unit 120 detects that the decision button has been pressed and that group candidate 1 has been decided (Yes in S11), in S12 the control unit 120 adds the decided value (group candidate 1) as history to a list of group candidates (list of adopted group candidates) that has been recorded in advance in the information storage unit 130, and records the list in the information storage unit 130.

[0048] An example of a list of adopted group candidates is shown in Fig. 10. As shown in Fig. 10, the list records that the adopted group candidate in the first group work is 1.

[0049] In S13, the control unit 120 assigns N+1 to N. Since N=1 until now, N=2 is now set. When N=2, a flow for determining group candidates for the second group work is executed.

[0050] In S14, the control unit 120 checks whether N exceeds the number of group work sessions. In Fig. 4, the number of group work sessions entered by the group work participant was 15. In this case, N = 2, so it does not exceed 15.

[0051] Therefore, the process proceeds to S8, where the control unit 120 calculates the evaluation value of the group candidate for the second group work, and adds the calculated evaluation value to the evaluation value list of the group candidate.

[0052] For example, if candidate group 4 is selected in the second group work, the control unit 120 sets the evaluation value EV ２－４is calculated as follows: When performing grouping for the Nth groupwork, the control unit 120 performs grouping taking into consideration all grouping results (history) up to the N-1th groupwork. The control unit 120 may refer to the groupwork participant list (FIG. 5) read from the information storage unit 130 as the history of grouping up to the N-1th groupwork, or may refer to the list of adopted group candidates (FIG. 10) read from the information storage unit 130.

[0053] As mentioned above, group candidate 1 was selected in the first group work. Therefore, in addition to the first group work, A will be in the same group once with B, C, G, and J, and twice with D. Therefore, the evaluation vector A when N=2 is ２ In this case, N ＡＤ = 2, and N ＡＢ = N ＡＣ = N ＡＧ = N ＡＪ = 1, N ＡＥ = N ＡＦ = N ＡＨ = N ＡＩ = N ＡＫ = N ＡＬ = 0. At this time, the evaluation vector A ２ The size L Ａ２ can be calculated as follows:

[0054] L Ａ２ =√(N ＡＢ ２ +N ＡＣ ２ +N ＡＤ ２ +N ＡＥ ２ +N ＡＦ ２ +N ＡＧ ２ +N ＡＨ ２ +N ＡＩ ２ +N ＡＪ ２ +N ＡＫ ２ +N ＡＬ ２ ) = √(1 ２ +1 ２ +2 ２ +0２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ ) = √8 The same calculation can be done for participants B to L. In other words, together with the first grouping, B will be in the same group as A, C, D, E, H, and K once each, so N ＢＡ = N ＢＣ = N ＢＤ = N ＢＥ = N ＢＨ = N ＢＫ = 1, and N ＢＦ = N ＢＧ = N ＢＩ = N ＢＪ = N ＢＬ = 0. At this time, the evaluation vector B ２ The size L Ｂ２ can be calculated as follows:

[0055] L Ｂ２ =√(N ＢＡ ２ +N ＢＣ ２ +N ＢＤ ２ +N ＢＥ ２ +N ＢＦ ２ +N ＢＧ ２ +N ＢＨ ２ +N ＢＩ ２ +N ＢＪ ２ +N ＢＫ ２ +N ＢＬ ２ ) = √(1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ ) = √6 Similarly, L Ｃ２ ~L Ｌ２When we calculate it, we get the following result:

[0056] L Ｃ２ =√(N ＣＡ ２ +N ＣＢ ２ +N ＣＤ ２ +N ＣＥ ２ +N ＣＦ ２ +N ＣＧ ２ +N ＣＨ ２ +N ＣＩ ２ +N ＣＪ ２ +N ＣＫ ２ +N ＣＬ ２ ) = √(1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ ) = √6 L Ｄ２ =√(N ＤＡ ２ +N ＤＢ ２ +N ＤＣ ２ +N ＤＥ ２ +N ＤＦ ２ +N ＤＧ ２ +N ＤＨ ２ +N ＤＩ ２ +N ＤＪ ２ +N ＤＫ ２ +N ＤＬ ２ ) = √(2 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1２ +0 ２ +0 ２ )=√8 L Ｅ２ =√(N ＥＡ ２ +N ＥＢ ２ +N ＥＣ ２ +N ＥＤ ２ +N ＥＦ ２ +N ＥＧ ２ +N ＥＨ ２ +N ＥＩ ２ +N ＥＪ ２ +N ＥＫ ２ +N ＥＬ ２ )=√(0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +2 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ )=√8 L Ｆ２ =√(N ＦＡ ２ +N ＦＢ ２ +N ＦＣ ２ +N ＦＤ ２ +N ＦＥ ２ +N ＦＧ ２ +N ＦＨ ２ +N ＦＩ ２ +N ＦＪ ２ +N ＦＫ ２ +N ＦＬ ２ )=√(0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0２ +0 ２ +1 ２ )=√6 L Ｇ２ =√(N ＧＡ ２ +N ＧＢ ２ +N ＧＣ ２ +N ＧＤ ２ +N ＧＥ ２ +N ＧＦ ２ +N ＧＨ ２ +N ＧＩ ２ +N ＧＪ ２ +N ＧＫ ２ +N ＧＬ ２ )=√(1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ )=√6 L Ｈ２ =√(N ＨＡ ２ +N ＨＢ ２ +N ＨＣ ２ +N ＨＤ ２ +N ＨＥ ２ +N ＨＦ ２ +N ＨＧ ２ +N ＨＩ ２ +N ＨＪ ２ +N ＨＫ ２ +N ＨＬ ２ )=√(0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +2 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0２ +1 ２ +0 ２ )=√8 L Ｉ２ =√(N ＩＡ ２ +N ＩＢ ２ +N ＩＣ ２ +N ＩＤ ２ +N ＩＥ ２ +N ＩＦ ２ +N ＩＧ ２ +N ＩＨ ２ +N ＩＪ ２ +N ＩＫ ２ +N ＩＬ ２ )=√(1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +2 ２ )=√8 L Ｊ２ =√(N ＪＡ ２ +N ＪＢ ２ +N ＪＣ ２ +N ＪＤ ２ +N ＪＥ ２ +N ＪＦ ２ +N ＪＧ ２ +N ＪＨ ２ +N ＪＩ ２ +N ＪＫ ２ +N ＪＬ ２ )=√(1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +1２ +1 ２ +1 ２ )=√6 L Ｋ２ =√(N ＫＡ ２ +N ＫＢ ２ +N ＫＣ ２ +N ＫＤ ２ +N ＫＥ ２ +N ＫＦ ２ +N ＫＧ ２ +N ＫＨ ２ +N ＫＩ ２ +N ＫＪ ２ +N ＫＬ ２ )=√(0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ +1 ２ )=√6 L Ｌ２ =√(N ＬＡ ２ +N ＬＢ ２ +N ＬＣ ２ +N ＬＤ ２ +N ＬＥ ２ +N ＬＦ ２ +N ＬＧ ２ +N ＬＨ ２ +N ＬＩ ２ +N ＬＪ ２ +N ＬＫ ２ )=√(0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +1 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +2２ +1 ２ +1 ２ ) = √8 Therefore, when group candidate 4 is selected for the second time, the evaluation value EV ２－４ becomes:

[0057] EV ２－４ =L Ａ２ +L Ｂ２ +L Ｃ２ +L Ｄ２ +L Ｅ２ +L Ｆ２ +L Ｇ２ +L Ｈ２ +L Ｉ２ +L Ｊ２ +L Ｋ２ +L Ｌ２ = 6√6 + 6√8 On the other hand, in the second group work, if group candidate 1 is selected, the evaluation value EV ２－１ can be calculated as follows: Since A will be in the same group with B, C, and D twice, including the first group work, N ＡＢ = N ＡＣ = N ＡＤ = 2, and N ＡＥ = N ＡＦ = 　 N ＡＧ = N ＡＨ = N ＡＩ = N ＡＪ = N ＡＫ = N ＡＬ = 0. At this time, the evaluation vector A ２ The size L Ａ２ can be calculated as follows:

[0058] L Ａ２ =√(2 ２ +2 ２ +2 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ +0 ２ ) = √12 The same applies to participants B to L, so L Ａ２ =L Ｂ２ =L Ｃ２ =L Ｄ２ =L Ｅ２ =LＦ２ =L Ｇ２ =L Ｈ２ =L Ｉ２ =L Ｊ２ =L Ｋ２ =L Ｌ２ Therefore, when group candidate 1 is selected for the second time, the evaluation value EV ２－１ becomes:

[0059] EV ２－１ =L Ａ２ +L Ｂ２ +L Ｃ２ +L Ｄ２ +L Ｅ２ +L Ｆ２ +L Ｇ２ +L Ｈ２ +L Ｉ２ +L Ｊ２ +L Ｋ２ +L Ｌ２ The control unit 120 executes the above calculation for each group, and adds each evaluation value EV in the second group work to the evaluation value list of the group candidates shown in FIG. 8, which was previously recorded in the information storage unit 130. Ｘ－Ｙ is added, and the added list is recorded in the information storage unit 130.

[0060] Figure 11 shows the EV for the second group work. ２－１ and EV ２－４ In this example, the evaluation value list shows only the value of EV ２－１ >EV ２－４ Therefore, when the control unit 120 selects the group candidate with the smallest evaluation value in S9, group candidate 1 is not selected.

[0061] In S10, the control unit 120 displays a group candidate determination page, which is a page for determining group candidates, on the group work implementer terminal 300. When N=2, one or more group candidates selected in S9 from all group candidates (FIG. 9) are displayed on the group candidate determination page.

[0062] In the second group work, the group work implementer selects group candidate 4.

[0063] In S11 of FIG. 2 , when the control unit 120 detects that the decision button has been pressed and that group candidate 4 has been decided (Yes in S11), in S12 the control unit 120 adds the decided value (group candidate 4) to a list of group candidates (list of adopted group candidates) that has been recorded in advance in the information storage unit 130, and records the list in the information storage unit 130.

[0064] An example of a list of adopted group candidates is shown in Fig. 12. As shown in Fig. 12, the list records that the adopted group candidate for the second group work is 4.

[0065] Thereafter, the same process as the second round is carried out for the third to fifteenth rounds, and the groupings for each round of group work are determined. In S14, the control unit 120 ends the process when it determines that N has exceeded the number of group work rounds.

[0066] (Hardware Configuration Example) The grouping assistance device 100 described in this embodiment can be realized, for example, by causing a computer to execute a program. This computer may be a physical computer or a virtual machine on the cloud.

[0067] That is, the grouping assistance device 100 can be realized by using hardware resources such as a CPU and memory built into a computer to execute a program corresponding to the processing performed by the grouping assistance device 100. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as a portable memory) and can be saved or distributed. The program can also be provided via a network such as the Internet or email.

[0068] Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the computer. The computer in Fig. 13 includes a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, and the like, all of which are interconnected by a bus BS. The computer may further include a GPU.

[0069] The program that realizes the processing on the computer is provided by a recording medium 1001, such as a CD-ROM or a memory card. When the recording medium 1001 storing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 to the auxiliary storage device 1002 via the drive device 1000. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 1001, but may be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files, data, etc.

[0070] The memory device 1003 reads and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 1002 when an instruction to start the program is received. The CPU 1004 realizes functions related to the grouping assistance device 100 in accordance with the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is used as an interface for connecting to a network, etc. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like according to the program. The input device 1007 is composed of a keyboard, mouse, buttons, a touch panel, etc., and is used to input various operation instructions. The output device 1008 outputs the results of calculations.

[0071] (Effects of the embodiment) As described above, the technology described in the present embodiment makes it possible to divide participants into groups in multiple group work sessions so that each participant is grouped with as many different participants as possible.

[0072] The following additional notes are provided regarding the above-described embodiments.

[0073] <Additional Notes> (Additional Item 1) A grouping support device that supports grouping of subjects, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor connected to the memory, wherein the memory records the results of each of a plurality of groupings as a history, and wherein the processor, in a specific grouping, selects one or more group candidates from a plurality of group candidates based on the history up to the previous time read from the memory so as to reduce the number of times that each subject belongs to the same group with the same subject, and displays the selected one or more group candidates on a terminal. (Additional Item 2) The grouping support device according to Additional Item 1, wherein the processor calculates an evaluation value for each of the plurality of group candidates using the number of times that each subject belongs to the same group with the same subject, and selects the one or more group candidates based on the evaluation value. (Additional Item 3) The grouping support device according to Additional Item 2, wherein the processor calculates, for all subjects, the sum of the magnitudes of evaluation vectors consisting of the number of times that each subject belongs to the same group with the same subject, as the evaluation value. (Supplementary Item 4) The grouping support device according to any one of Supplementary Items 1 to 3, wherein, when displaying the one or more group candidates on the terminal, the processor displays each subject in a manner that allows the attribute values ​​of each subject in each group constituting the group candidates to be seen. (Supplementary Item 5) A grouping support method executed by a grouping support device that supports grouping of subjects, wherein the grouping support device comprises an information storage unit that records the results of each of a plurality of grouping rounds as a history, and in a specific grouping round, selects one or more group candidates from a plurality of group candidates based on the history up to the previous round read from the information storage unit so as to reduce the number of times that each subject belongs to the same group with the same subject, and displays the selected one or more group candidates on the terminal. (Supplementary Item 6) A non-transitory storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the grouping support device according to any one of Supplementary Items 1 to 4.

[0074] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such a specific embodiment, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.

[0075] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Grouping support device 110 Information input / output unit 120 Control unit 130 Information storage unit 140 Web page creation unit 200 Network 300 Group work implementer terminal 1000 Drive device 1001 Recording medium 1002 Auxiliary storage device 1003 Memory device 1004 CPU 1005 Interface device 1006 Display device 1007 Input device 1008 Output device

Claims

1. A grouping support device that supports grouping of subjects, comprising: an information storage unit that records the results of each grouping in multiple groupings as a history; and a control unit that, in a specific grouping round, selects one or more group candidates from multiple group candidates based on the history up to the previous round read from the information storage unit so as to reduce the number of times that the same subject belongs to the same group for each subject, and displays the selected one or more group candidates on a terminal.

2. The grouping support device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit calculates an evaluation value for each of the plurality of group candidates using the number of times each subject belongs to the same group as the same subject, and selects the one or more group candidates based on the evaluation value.

3. The grouping assistance device according to claim 2, wherein the control unit calculates, as the evaluation value, the sum for all subjects of the magnitude of an evaluation vector consisting of the number of times each subject belongs to the same group as the same subject.

4. The grouping support device according to claim 1, wherein, when displaying the one or more group candidates on the terminal, the control unit displays each subject in such a way that the attribute values ​​of each subject in each group constituting the group candidates can be seen.

5. A grouping support method executed by a grouping support device that supports grouping of subjects, the grouping support device having an information storage unit that records the results of each grouping in multiple groupings as a history, and in a specific grouping round, selecting one or more group candidates from multiple group candidates based on the history up to the previous round read from the information storage unit so as to reduce the number of times that the same subject belongs to the same group for each subject, and displaying the selected one or more group candidates on a terminal.

6. A program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the grouping assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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