Holistic analysis of the effectiveness of a software engineering teaching approach

To provide the best training in software engineering, several approaches and strategies are carried out. Some of them are more theoretical, learned through books and manuals, while others have a practical focus and often done in collaboration with companies. In this paper, we share an approach based on a balanced mix to foster the assimilation of knowledge, the approximation with what is done in software companies and student motivation. Two questionnaires were also carried out, one involving students, who had successfully completed the subject in past academic years (some had already graduated, and others are still students), and other questionnaire involving companies, in the field of software development, which employ students from our school. The analysis of the perspectives of the different stakeholders allows an overall and holistic) view, and a general understanding, of the effectiveness of the software engineering teaching approach. We analyse the results of the questionnaires and share some of the experiences and lessons learned.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhancing the employability of fashion students through the use of 3D CAD

The textile and apparel industry has one of the longest and most intricate supply chains within manufacturing. Advancement in technology has facilitated its globalisation, enabling companies to span geographical borders. This has led to new methods of communication using electronic data formats. Throughout the latter part of the 20th Century, 2D CAD technology established itself as an invaluable tool within design and product development. More recently 3D virtual simulation software has made small but significant steps within this market. The technological revolution has opened significant opportunities for those forward thinking companies that are beginning to utilise 3D software. This advanced technology requires designers with unique skill sets. This paper investigates the skills required by fashion graduates from an industry perspective. To reflect current industrial working practices, it is essential for educational establishments to incorporate technologies that will enhance the employability of graduates. This study developed an adapted action research model based on the work of Kurt Lewin, which reviewed the learning and teaching of 3D CAD within higher education. It encompassed the selection of 3D CAD software development, analysis of industry requirements, and the implementation of 3D CAD into the learning and teaching of a selection of fashion students over a three year period. Six interviews were undertaken with industrial design and product development specialists to determine: current working practices, opinions of virtual 3D software and graduate skill requirements. It was found that the companies had similar working practices independent of the software utilised within their product development process. The companies which employed 3D CAD software considered further developments were required before the technology could be fully integrated. Further to this it was concluded that it was beneficial for graduates to be furnished with knowledge of emerging technologies which reflect industry and enhance their employability skills

Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses

Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and project courses is desirable due to its potential positive effects on the students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion of an industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire professional skills. In addition, an increasing push towards education that is aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners can be observed. However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can create friction and could, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all involved parties. Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the involvement of external stakeholders in university courses both in a retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in a constructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders. Key Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the teachers in their analysis of stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate the collaboration). The guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these activities. In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an action plan based on an analysis of potential stakeholders and the pedagogical objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identify issues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing from ideas of the reflective practitioner, the model contains an emphasis on reflection and interpretation of the observations made by the teacher and other groups involved in the courses. Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible to reveal hitherto implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the interaction...Comment: Abstract shortened since arxiv.org limits length of abstracts. See paper/pdf for full abstract. Paper is forthcoming, accepted August 2017. Arxiv version 2 corrects misspelled author nam

Combining Terrier with Apache Spark to Create Agile Experimental Information Retrieval Pipelines

Experimentation using IR systems has traditionally been a procedural and laborious process. Queries must be run on an index, with any parameters of the retrieval models suitably tuned. With the advent of learning-to-rank, such experimental processes (including the appropriate folding of queries to achieve cross-fold validation) have resulted in complicated experimental designs and hence scripting. At the same time, machine learning platforms such as Scikit Learn and Apache Spark have pioneered the notion of an experimental pipeline , which naturally allows a supervised classification experiment to be expressed a series of stages, which can be learned or transformed. In this demonstration, we detail Terrier-Spark, a recent adaptation to the Terrier Information Retrieval platform which permits it to be used within the experimental pipelines of Spark. We argue that this (1) provides an agile experimental platform for information retrieval, comparable to that enjoyed by other branches of data science; (2) aids research reproducibility in information retrieval by facilitating easily-distributable notebooks containing conducted experiments; and (3) facilitates the teaching of information retrieval experiments in educational environments

Showcase of Active Learning and Teaching Practices in Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Education

The new concept of Open Spatial Data Infrastructures (Open SDIs) has emerged from an increased interest in open data initiatives together with national and international directives, such as the EU Open Data Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1024), and the large investment of European public authorities in developing SDIs for sharing spatial data within public authorities. Open SDIs have the potential to boost reaching SDIs’ general aims and goals of facilitating the exchange and sharing of spatial data to support planning and decision-making by including public participation and increased openness in all aspects of SDIs, including Open SDI Education. The open SPatial data Infrastructure eDucation nEtwoRk (SPIDER) project aims to address Open SDI Education by particular emphasis on studying Active Learning and Teaching (ALT) methods for SDI education. This article provides a theoretical basis of ALT for SDI methodologies. We show in which way ALT practices were already implemented in SDI education at the Partner universities before the COVID-19 pandemic. We also describe how the pandemic functioned as a catalyst for implementing ALT practices to an online environment, and how students evaluated these practices. The outcomes of our research can serve as an inspiration for SDI education in other countries

The research teaching nexus in the computing disciplines: a comparative survey

Many institutions make claims in strategy documents and official publications that students will receive an education which is research-led, research-informed, or guided by the scholarship of teaching and learning. Academics who teach regularly experience at first-hand the sometimes conflicting demands of research, teaching and supporting learning. Curricula guidelines are unlikely to help in developing any sophisticated understanding of ways in which research and teaching can be symbiotically applied, since such guidelines most typically deal with the content rather than the educational process experienced by our undergraduates. For these reasons an academic’s understanding of the research teaching nexus is more likely to be informed by their own workaday experience of designing and delivering educational experiences than from an analysis of the students’ perspective. If academics in the computing disciplines are to effectively deliver on their institutional missions to be scholarly, research-led or research-informed in their educational approaches, a clearer understanding of the possible meanings and implications of these terms in the context of the typical computing curricula would be of assistance. This paper presents and analyses the results of a survey conducted at two Universities which sought to identify how far their undergraduate curriculum was informed by research. This data is presented alongside qualitative data gathered from academics which explores their attitudes towards, and understanding of, the various terms commonly used to describe a research-informed approach to education in the computing disciplines

Integration Of Agile Development In Standard Labs

In addition to the technical content, modern courses at university should also teach professional skills to enhance the competencies of students towards their future work. The competency driven approach including technical as well as professional skills makes it necessary to find a suitable way for the integration into the corresponding module in a scalable and flexible manner. Agile development, for example, is essential for the development of modern systems and applications and makes use of dedicated professional skills of the team members, like structured group dynamics and communication, to enable the fast and reliable development. This paper presents an easy to integrate and flexible approach to integrate Scrum, an agile development method, into the lab of an existing module. Due to the different role models of Scrum the students have an individual learning success, gain valuable insight into modern system development and strengthen their communication and organization skills. The approach is implemented and evaluated in the module Vehicle Systems, but it can be transferred easily to other technical courses as well. The evaluation of the implementation considers feedback of all stakeholders, students, supervisor and lecturers, and monitors the observations during project lifetime

EU–originated MOOCs, with focus on multi- and single-institution platforms

No abstract available