Play Ball: Bringing Scrum into the Classroom

Scrum has become a widely-used framework for technology development in both private industry and the government. As a result, Information Systems recruiters and executives have recently been placing a focus on students with Scrum knowledge. Unfortunately, current System Analysis and Design textbooks provide cursory attention to Scrum. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to suggest a starting point for teaching Scrum at the university level by presenting a classroom exercise (Ball Game) that can be used as a means for learning Scrum in more detail. This tip accomplishes three things: (1) introduces students to Scrum concepts with an engaging and memorable exercise, (2) provides a means for teaching students about estimation, and (3) offers an approach that allows students to witness firsthand how self-organized teams inspect, adapt, and evolve

An Analysis of Students’ Collaboration Skills in Science Learning Through Inquiry and Project-Based Learning

Collaboration skills are essential for students when facing the working world in 21st-century society. The study aims to determine students' collaboration skills through inquiry and project-based learning in science. The descriptive method was implemented with surveys and interviews. The participants were 175 students from Junior High School. Data collection was carried out using collaborative skill observation sheets and an interview guide. The results showed that, in general, the collaboration skills of participants were categorized as high regarding the indicators of collaboration skills. The indicators consisted of contributing to group discussions (72.57 percent), working effectively in group discussions (77.14 percent), communicating in group activities (74.86 percent), and having responsibility for completing group assignments (75 percent). Therefore, teachers are advised to apply inquiry and project-based learning in science to improve student collaboration skills

Engineering Technology Students: Do they approach capstone courses differently than other students?

Using data collected from students in engineering technology, engineering, and other areas such as computer science a comparison of student reactions to the capstone course are coded and sorted. Using content analysis methods, the researchers compare and contrast the various student groups and their reactions to assigned capstone projects. They are also able to assess student interaction with faculty and industry mentors. Researchers strive to learn more about these various student approaches to the capstone experience and to further our understanding of best practices in capstone courses

Engineering Design-Based Thematic Activities: An Investigation of Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Entrepreneurship Mindsets

The purpose of this study is to examine changes in pre-service science teachers’ entrepreneurship mindsets during engineering design-based activities. A holistic single-case study was used in the study. Twenty-eight pre-service teachers carried out engineering design-based activities (five weeks, 20 hours) in the science teaching laboratory practices course. The pre-service teachers’ use of Entrepreneurship Mindsets (EM) in solving the water pollution problem during engineering design-based activities was examined in this study. Data were collected via engineering design challenge worksheets and public service announcements. The data were analyzed with the Extended KEEN Student Outcomes (eKSOs) rubric. Frequency tables were created in line with the sub-dimensions of EM (curiosity, connections, creating value, communication, character, and collaboration). As a result of the research, it was found that the pre-service teachers mostly used curiosity, connections, and creating value during the water treatment and wastewater assessment plant design process. Engineering is an important context for the development of EM as it creates various contexts that contribute to the development of these mindsets in pre-service science teacher education

Experiencing the Sheffield team software project: a project-based learning approach to teaching agile

Graduates of computer science and software engineering degrees are often expected by employers to possess various technical skills as well as competencies in project management, testing, teamwork, and other soft skills. Extant literature has identified that these competencies are often not addressed by traditional teaching approaches such as lectures and labs. In this paper, we present a project-based learning approach to teaching agile software development where students work in multicultural teams to develop software for clients. This approach to teaching software development addresses some of the competencies required by employers, and the feedback from students, clients, and tutors are discussed and analysed critically

Exploring Software Testing Strategies Used on Software Applications in the Government

Developing a defect-free software application is a challenging task. Despite many years of experience, the intense development of reliable software remains a challenge. For this reason, software defects identified at the end of the testing phase are more expensive than those detected sooner. The purpose of this multiple case study is to explore the testing strategies software developers use to ensure the reliability of software applications in the government contracting industry. The target population consisted of software developers from 3 government contracting organizations located along the East Coast region of the United States. Lehman’s laws of software evolution was the conceptual framework. The data collection process included semistructured interviews with software developers (n = 10), including a review of organizational documents (n = 77). Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns and codes from the interviews. Member checking activities were triangulated with organizational documents to produce 4 major themes: (a) communication and collaboration with all stakeholders, (b) development of well-defined requirements, (c) focus on thorough documentation, and (d) focus on automation testing. The results of this study may contribute to information about testing strategies that may help organizations improve or enhance their testing practices. The results of this study may serve as a foundation for positive social change by potentially improving citizens’ experience with government software applications as a result of potential improvement in software testing practice

Teaching agile collaboration skills in the classroom

Agile methodologies like Scrum or Extreme Programming have come a long way over the last fifteen years. Recent quantitative studies show that many companies have successfully adopted agile methodologies. It was found that in agile software development, experience leads to collaboration. It could also be shown that successful professional agile teams tend to use more collaboration practices. In 2013, the new Computer Science studies at the University of Applied Sciences were started. For this, a new curriculum was developed. This paper presents and discusses the lectures, labs and educational software projects in the programming and software engineering modules. It is discussed how agile collaboration and collaboration practices can be taught in the classroom. For this, the setup and observations of an agile student project are presented and different online collaboration tools are discussed. It is argued that software engineering education benefits significantly from embracing the modern collaboration tools the Internet has made available