Teaching Reform of the Data Structures and Algorithms Course Integrating the OBE Concept with AI Technology

Abstract

Data Structures and Algorithms have for years run into the same wall: teaching that stays rigid, material too abstract for many students to grasp, a gap between what is taught and what is practiced, grades that lean almost entirely on a final exam, and little room for instruction shaped to the individual. To meet the talent demands of emerging engineering education, this study puts the OBE (Outcome-Based Education) idea together with artificial intelligence and rebuilds the course around them. Working backward from outcomes, the redesign sets course aims in three strands, knowledge, ability, and the broader qualities students should leave with. AI-driven visualization, learning analytics, and tutoring help build a learning space that straddles the online and the face-to-face, while a practice system that steps up in difficulty and an assessment that tracks students the whole way through keep the loop closed. The result moves the course away from handing over knowledge and toward the engineering competence graduates actually need, and it offers a model that other core engineering courses can adapt.