Team Performance in Agile Software Development Projects: The Effects of Requirements Changes, Time Pressure, Team Diversity, and Conflict

Information system development has traditionally been accompanied by changing requirements throughout projects. While recent research clarifies how time pressure affects team performance, the interplay between time pressure, requirements changes, and various other important factors such as team diversity is unclear. In this paper, we evaluate a novel and unified model based on extant research explaining the interactions of requirements changes, time pressure, temporal leadership, team diversity, and conflict as well as their effect on team performance. Further, we differentiate between the overall team performance and the team’s ability to respond both efficiently and extensively to requirements changes. The proposed model helps in composing and steering teams to increase their resilience towards requirements changes and time pressure. A first evaluation is based on a quantitative field study in multiple agile software development projects of student teams

Assessment of a hybrid software development process for student projects: a controlled experiment

In recent years, a vivid interest in hybrid development methods has been observed as practitioners combine various approaches to software creation to improve productivity, product quality, and adaptability of the process to react to change. Scientific papers on the subject proliferate, however evaluation of the effectiveness of hybrid methods in academic contexts has yet to follow. The work presented investigates if introducing a hybrid approach for student projects brings added value as compared to iterative and sequential development. A controlled experiment was carried out among Bachelor students of a French engineering school to assess the impacts of a given development method on the success of student computing undertakings. Its three dimensions were examined via a set of metrics: product quality, team productivity as well as human factors (teamwork quality & learning outcomes). Several patterns were observed, which can provide a starting point for educators and researchers wishing to tailor or design a software development process for academic needs

Evaluation of students' capstone software development projects

Capstone projects are important part of engineering education studies in software development field. In the project, a student team implements a software product usually for a company. Because of group work, complex project topics and external stakeholders, evaluation of students’ work is challenging. Our studied project course is aimed for Master’s students, during their last year of studies. It is compilation of all information and competence what students have learned during their studies in computer science so far. In this paper, we introduce a new detailed evaluation model for software engineering capstone projects. The model has the following main dimensions: project and process quality (e.g. completeness, usability and documentation), schedule (analysed kept agreements) and customer satisfaction (feedback e.g. about implemented features, functionality, easiness to maintain and communication and co-operation with the project team). Furthermore and big part of project evaluation, students can be seen as valuable asset to give feedback to themself and to each other, as well as for evaluating the project itself as part of their professional development. We have tested the evaluation model with over 25 projects and 146 students during two academic years, and the benefits of the model are more clear and transparent requirements in addition to fair credits to students. There may be variation within a project group both on the credit units and grade.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Design Sprint: Enhancing STEAM and Engineering Education Through Agile Prototyping and Testing Ideas

[Abstract] Creating project-based learning experiences in the classroom where students learn in a team to solve complex problems and to develop creative and critical thinking is a challenge. Design Sprint (DS) is an agile methodology (implemented in 5 days) with the goal of creating innovative design based on user needs (User Experience). The objective of this work was to develop an Engineering Drawing classroom experience linked to the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic with the Design Sprint methodology. The experience had to involve the integration of theory and practice, the application of knowledge, the development of both hard and soft skills, and the empowerment of students to conduct research. 56 first-year students following three STEAM degrees at the University of A Coruña participated in this experience. The activities were designed for both face-to-face and remote learning. Microsoft Teams and Moodle were used for tutoring and for monitoring student progress. The Moodle Workshop tool was used for the evaluation of the prototypes that were developed and the projects were evaluated by video. The students defended their projects through a presentation in lightning talk format (Ignite). Evaluation rubrics were used following a triple approach: co-evaluation, hetero-evaluation and self-evaluation. The 3D design of the projects was developed with Autodesk software. A total of 18 projects were developed. Once the projects were completed, a survey was administered to evaluate the levels of student satisfaction. The survey results were very positive. The Design Sprint projects also showed positive effects on grades. The Design Sprint method has promoted an interactive learning environment. In addition to its simplicity, a further advantage of DS method is that all student dedication is planned. Students were therefore less likely to feel overloaded, all of which helps with better time management. The DS methodology is multipurpose, so it can be applied to various fields and subjects

Pushing architectural quality further

In this paper, the intentions thriving the implementation of computational modeling of building physics as it is approached in the Architectural engineering courses at Ghent University are discussed. During the bachelor degree, courses focus mainly on integration of basic building physics feasibility in the architectural conceptualization. During the final bachelor year, students program their own simplified 2D models for internal condensation and thermal bridges in a spreadsheet, based on realistic detailing from buildings they studied in other courses. These models are intentionally kept both simplified and strongly mathematically based to nurture thorough comprehension of the physical background of problematic design options. Additionally, evaluation of energy performance with official EPB-software is incorporated in the courses because of its high relevance as a legal benchmark. All these models, including EPB, are (semi)static and thus offer only limited but nevertheless useful information on physical, legal, hygienic… viability of different options at reasonable complexity. Furthermore, they induce basic modeling skills as a basis for further development. During the master’s degree, the focus shifts from taxation of the feasibility of design decisions towards energetic performance as one of the starting points and validation criteria of the design process. For students who wish to specialize in the matter, elective courses and master’s thesis projects on optimization, innovative techniques, passive building standards etc. are offered in which advanced dynamic modeling is used. These models offer an important input for this specific design process as they enable precise, nuanced validation of the robustness and sensitivity for certain parameters of different strategies in a given, very complex, situation. By developing both innovative, more precise models for the master classes besides more powerful integration of modeling with design software (BIM) and robust predesign templates for the bachelor courses with master’s student cooperation, the research team supports these courses in achieving output of the highest possible quality

Software Engineering for Millennials, by Millennials

Software engineers need to manage both technical and professional skills in order to be successful. Our university offers a 5.5 year program that mixes computer science, software and computer engineering, where the first two years are mostly math and physics courses. As such, our students' first real teamwork experience is during the introductory SE course, where they modify open source projects in groups of 6-8. However, students have problems working in such large teams, and feel that the course material and project are "disconnected". We decided to redesign this course in 2017, trying to achieve a balance between theory and practice, and technical and professional skills, with a maximum course workload of 150 hrs per semester. We share our experience in this paper, discussing the strategies we used to improve teamwork and help students learn new technologies in a more autonomous manner. We also discuss what we learned from the two times we taught the new course.Comment: 8 pages, 9 tables, 4 figures, Second International Workshop on Software Engineering Education for Millennial

An agent system to support student teams working online

Online learning is now a reality, with distributed learning and blended learning becoming more widely used in Higher Education. Novel ways in which undergraduate and postgraduate learning material can be presented are being developed, and methods for helping students to learn online are needed, especially if we require them to collaborate with each other on learning activities. Agents to provide a supporting role for students have evolved from Artificial Intelligence research, and their strength lies in their ease of operation over networks as well as their ability to act in response to stimuli. In this paper an application of a software agent is described, aimed at supporting students working on team projects in the online learning environment. Online teamwork is problematical for a number of reasons, such as getting acquainted with team members, finding out about other team members’ abilities, agreeing who should do which tasks, communications between team members and keeping up to date with progress that has been made on the project. Software agents have the ability to monitor progress and to offer advice by operating in the background, acting autonomously when the need arises. An agent prototype has been developed in Prolog to perform a limited set of functions to support students. Team projects have a planning, doing and completing stage, all of which require them to have some sort of agent support. This agent at present supports part of the planning stage, by prompting the students to input their likes, dislikes and abilities for a selection of task areas defined for the project. The agent then allocates the various tasks to the students according to predetermined rules. The results of a trial carried out using teams working on projects, on campus, indicate that students like the idea of using this agent to help with allocating tasks. They also agreed that agent support of this type would probably be helpful to both students working on team projects with face to face contact, as well as for teams working solely online. Work is ongoing to add more functionality to the agent and to evaluate the agent more widely

Evaluation of team dynamic in Norwegian projects for IT students

The need for teaching realistic software development in project courses has increased in a global scale. It has always been challenges in cooperating fast-changing software technologies, development methodologies and teamwork. Moreover, such project courses need to be designed in the connection to existing theoretical courses. We performed a large-scale research on student performance in Software Engineering projects in Norwegian universities. This paper investigates four aspects of team dynamics, which are team reflection, leadership, decision making and task assignment in order to improve student learning. Data was collected from student projects in 4 years at two universities. We found that some leader's characteristics are perceived differently for female and male leaders, including the perception of leaders as skilful workers or visionaries. Leadership is still a challenging aspect to teach, and assigned leadership is probably not the best way to learn. Students is are performing well in task review, however, needs support while performing task assignment. The result also suggests that task management to be done in more fine-grained levels. It is also important to maintain an open and active discussion to facilitate effective group decision makings

Free and open source software development of IT systems

IT system development, integration, deployment, and administration benefit significantly from free and open source software (FOSS) tools and services. Affordability has been a compelling reason for adopting FOSS in computing curricula and equipping computing labs with support infrastructure. Using FOSS systems and services, however, is just the first step in taking advantage of how FOSS development principles and practices can impact student learning in IT degree programs. Above all, FOSS development of IT systems requires changes to how students, instructors, and other contributors work collaboratively and openly and get involved and invested in project activities. In this paper I examine the challenges to engage students in FOSS development projects proposed by real clients. A six-week course project revealed problems with adopting FOSS development and collaboration across different activities and roles that student team members have assumed. Despite these problems, students have showed a genuine and strong interest in gaining more practice with FOSS development. FOSS development teaching was further refined in two other courses to learn about adequate teaching strategies and the competencies that students achieve when they participate in FOSS development of IT systems