# Iterative Classroom Teaching

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.03537 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.03537/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 8 Nov 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Interactive Teaching Algorithms for Inverse Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11867/) (2019)
- [Learner-aware Teaching: Inverse Reinforcement Learning with Preferences and Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.00429/) (2019)
- [Iterative Teaching by Label Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14432/) (2021)
- [Curriculum Design for Teaching via Demonstrations: Theory and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04696/) (2021)
- [Nonparametric Teaching for Multiple Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10318/) (2023)
- [Explanatory machine learning for sequential human teaching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.10250/) (2022)
- [Representational Alignment Supports Effective Machine Teaching](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04302/) (2024)
- [One-shot Machine Teaching: Cost Very Few Examples to Converge Faster](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06416/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We consider the machine teaching problem in a classroom-like setting wherein the teacher has to deliver the same examples to a diverse group of students. Their diversity stems from differences in their initial internal states as well as their learning rates. We prove that a teacher with full knowledge about the learning dynamics of the students can teach a target concept to the entire classroom using O(min{d,N} log(1/eps)) examples, where d is the ambient dimension of the problem, N is the number of learners, and eps is the accuracy parameter. We show the robustness of our teaching strategy when the teacher has limited knowledge of the learners' internal dynamics as provided by a noisy oracle. Further, we study the trade-off between the learners' workload and the teacher's cost in teaching the target concept. Our experiments validate our theoretical results and suggest that appropriately partitioning the classroom into homogenous groups provides a balance between these two objectives.