Learning Software Quality Assurance with Bricks

Software Quality Assurance (SQA) and Software Process Improvement (SPI) are topics of crucial importance for software engineers; however, teaching them in a lecture room comes with several limitations due to lack of practical experience. With that in mind, we created KUALI-Brick, a LEGO(R)-based activity that brings SQA and SPI concepts together applying them in order to successfully build a LEGO city. This hands-on activity has been carried out in a fourth-year Software Engineering course at the University of Canterbury, with current results showing high levels of fun, increased engagement and an improved learning experience. We present a step-by-step guide to replicate the activity as well as lessons learned after conducting the activity for three consecutive years.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, ICSE-JSEET 202

Challenges and Paradoxes of Teaching Project Management the Agile Way

This paper discusses challenges and paradoxes for teaching project management (PM) in an Agile way outside of a software development context. Based on a critical analysis of two PM course iterations in a professional masters program, the paper identifies several areas with tensions between established processes, norms, values, and expectations in higher education and the Agile PM course design. Ultimately, the paper finds that fulfilling the professional masters program’s mission (to educate workforce-ready graduates for today’s Agile / hybrid working environments) would require subverting numerous norms, values, and expectations on the course design, the students’, and the lecturers’ sides. Teachers and program directors in higher education can draw on this paper’s findings to identify and manage pitfalls and paradoxes in their own PM course designs, in order to have them convey Agile PM’s principles, values, and techniques effectively while retaining a positive student experience

Dont Break the Build: Developing a Scrum Retrospective Game

This study discusses the design and observed play of a game-based Scrum retrospective. The game builds on the existing wealth of retrospective activities but adds in actual game play. The game is created in such a way as to satisfy the definition of a game and includes a win/loss state uncommon within typical retrospective activities. Leveraging existing design paradigms, the game looks to capitalize on the reported benefits of using games in team building and learning environments. The game fulfills the goals of a Scrum retrospective for the team to inspect and adapt processes by guiding the team in focused discussion regarding their performance and observations during the proceeding Sprint. The study provides an overview of the game design and mechanics and provides observations and results from post-game questionnaires. Finally, the study proposes changes to the game based on results of the observations and discusses future research possibilities

Serious games in management education: An acceptance analysis

Training is a key resource for fostering knowledge as a competitive asset. As in other fields, in learning, innovation emerges with disruptive methods such as gamification. Serious games are a proven efficient training method based on the incorporation of traditional elements of games, such as entertainment, into learning. But as with any other innovation, people must be willing to use the new method. The use of even a proven serious game will not have any positive effect if students do not accept it. It is thus essential to analyze the intention to use serious games in management training contexts. This research uses an adapted CAN (Cognitive-Affective-Normative) model to explore the intention to use a serious game – Lego© Serious Play© – in a sample of higher-education students in their capacity as future professionals. The results show that the most critical factor influencing the intention to use serious games is expected learning performance. The proposed model opens a new methodology for studying the behavioral intention to use other innovative management-training methods and to enrich the deployment of serious game training strategies in management education