Enhancing Students\u27 Perception Of Software Maintainability By Using Collaborative Team-Based Role Play

This research was performed within a software engineering workshop. In addition to standard technical issues, this workshop was designed to enhance students\u27 capabilities related to non-technical knowledge areas, such as critical thinking, interpersonal and team-based skills. An important objective of outlining the importance of software maintainability issues was achieved through team-based collaborative development activities. There were three assignments in which each team had to continue the work designed (or developed) by another team. The main research study objective was to examine the effect of employing this kind of a team-based peer-review on the students\u27 learning process. Data referring to the students\u27 perceptions is presented and analyzed in addition to student reflections on the workshop which demonstrate their expanded understanding of the design and application process

CHANGING STUDENTS PERCEPTION REGARDING SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION

Being aware to the important role of proper software documentation on one hand and being acquainted with the students\u27 views regarding this issue on the other, we decided to examine the effects of facing the students with bad documentation or the lack of it on their views, as represented by a software project they have to design, develop and test.. This research was performed within a software engineering workshop for Computer Science students. For addressing the soft skills issues required by the industry, the course was delivered as a workshop with various (inter and intra) team based activities. The objective of outlining the importance of software maintainability issues was achieved through a hybrid team-based role play. The workshop consists of three assignments, following a typical software design and development process, in which each team had to continue the work performed by another team, thus creating a dependency between the team members as well as between the teams as might happen during real life maintenance. The main research study objective was to examine the effect of employing this kind of a hybrid team-based role-play and peer-review on the students\u27 learning process regarding product documentation for future maintainability. Data referring to the students\u27 perceptions is presented and analyzed in addition to student reflections on the workshop which demonstrate their expanded understanding of documenting the design and application process

Opiskelijoiden valmistaminen työelämään yliopiston sisäisen ohjelmisto-startupin avulla

Tertiary education aims to prepare computer science students for the working life. While much of the technical principles are covered in lower-level courses, team-based capstone projects are a common way to provide students hands-on experience and teach soft skills. Although such courses help students to gain some of the relevant skills, it is difficult to simulate in a course context what work in a professional software engineering team really is about. Our goal is to understand ways tertiary education institutions prepare students for the working life in software engineering. Firstly, we do this by focusing on the mechanisms that software engineering capstones use to simulate work-life. A literature review of 85 primary studies was conducted for this overview. Secondly, we present a more novel way of teaching industry-relevant skills in an university-lead internal software startup. A case study of such a startup, Software Development Academy (SDA), is presented, along with the experiences of both students and faculty involved in it. Finally, we look into how these approaches might differ. Results indicate that capstone courses differ greatly in ways they are organized. Most often students are divided in teams of 4–6 and get assigned with software projects that the teams then develop from an idea to a robust proof-of-concept. In contrast, students employed in the SDA develop production-level software in exchange for a salary for university clients. Students regarded SDA as a highly relevant and fairly irreplaceable educational experience. Working with production-quality software and having a wide range of responsibilities was perceived integral in giving a thorough skill set for the future. In conclusion, capstones and the internal startup both aim to prepare students for the work-life in software engineering. Capstones do it by simulating professional software engineering in a one-semester experience in a course environment. The internal startup adds a touch of realism to this by being actual work in a relatively safe university context