Practitioners’ Perspective on Software Project Management Education

Despite Software project management (SPM) being one of the most relevant topicsin the area of software engineering that should be addressed in computing programs, SPM skills of recent graduates are not satisfactory yet. In this context, besides being important to know there are skill deficiencies, we also need to gather specific information on how to adjust and improve the education on the corresponding topics. In this paper we attempt to identify what knowledge deficiencies in SPM can persist after a student graduates from a computing degree program. We surveyed practitioners that graduated and worked as software project managers to gather the knowledge deficiencies from the industry perspective. In general, the results indicated that there is a number of professionals who seeks postgraduate programs to fill the deficiencies of the undergrad programs

Towards a Mobile Learning Environment using Reference Architectures

Mobile learning environments have emerged as a way to support the m-learning initiatives, providing benefits to learners, teachers and tutors. However, despite their relevance, the development of mobile learning environments present problems and challenges that must be investigated, especially with respect to the definition and adoption of architectural patterns. Motivated by this scenario, in this paper we discuss the development of a mobile learning environment, called ICMC MLE, following the precepts of a specific reference architecture for mobile learning. ICMC MLE was also evaluated through an experiment; the results showed a high level of satisfaction and convenience in relation to the use of ICMC MLE in real learning scenarios

Fostering leadership skills of technology professionals in startups

This paper presents an investigation on how the startup environment fosters the development and improvement of the leadership skills of technology professionals. From the beginning of the 90s, new products and new technologies began to appear at a much faster pace and, since then, significant changes have occurred in corporate, academic environ-ments and in everyday interpersonal relationships. In this scenario, new types of business have also emerged, such as startups, considered an innovative enterprise, with the poten-tial to grow and scale. Minds ahead of all this innovation were necessary and, therefore, a new type of leader emerged. A leader who not only guides the followers but encourages leadership by them. Particularly in the startup environment, leadership becomes even more fundamental. As these entrepreneurs must keep these organizations in constant and strong growth, the ability to manage and motivate people to follow the same path becomes an essential part of the process. In this context, we aimed to answer the following research question: “How do the startup environments foster the development and improvement of the leadership skills of technology professionals?”. Aiming to answer the posed research question, we conducted a case study with four subjects. In this paper, we discuss each step of the case study and present the gathered results. As a result, we have identified three main categories of factors that promote the development and improvement of such professionals: open culture, leadership skills, and accelerated growth

MLearning-PL: uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos para aplicativos educacionais móveis

The development and use of computational applications to support teaching and learning, together with the evolution of mobile computing, have contributed significantly to the establishment of a new learning modality known as mobile learning. Despite the benefits and facilities offered by educational applications, some problems and issues they present must be addressed. Challenges associated with mobile learning are not limited to developmental aspects or technologies. We should also consider the pedagogical aspects of this kind of application. When dealing with domain-specific software, we must be concerned about domain requirements. Therefore, it is important to have expert knowledge in the requirements engineering team and, in the case of mobile learning applications projects, such knowledge come from educators, teachers and tutors. However, capturing and transferring tacit knowledge are not trivial tasks and a supporting mechanism that guides the requirements elicitation phase in mobile learning applications projects would be of major importance. Pattern languages as a method to describe tacit knowledge is acknowledged and could be used as a supporting mechanism. Patterns constitute a mechanism for capturing domain experience and knowledge to allow such experience and knowledge to be reapplied when a new problem is encountered. Similarly, pedagogical patterns try to capture expert knowledge of the practice of teaching and learning. Aiming to solve, or at least diminish, the problems associated with mobile learning and due the lack of pedagogical patterns for this purpose, this work aims to create a pedagogical pattern language to assist the requirements elicitation phase of mobile learning applications projects. In this context, a pedagogical pattern language, named MLearning-PL, was created. It is composed of 14 patterns and focuses on assisting in the definition of mobile applications in order to keep learners motivated and committed to using such applications, considering their different learning styles and an effective knowledge acquisition. Experimental studies comparing MLearning-PL to an ad hoc approach in a pedagogical problem resolution scenario were conducted. The results obtained provided preliminary evidences of the applicability, effectiveness and efficiency of MLearning-PL.O desenvolvimento e a utilização de aplicações computacionais como apoio ao ensino e aprendizagem, aliados à evolução da computação móvel, tem contribuído significativamente para o estabelecimento de uma nova modalidade de ensino conhecida como aprendizagem móvel. Neste cenário, as aplicações educacionais existentes, mesmo possuindo diversos benefícios e facilidades, apresentam problemas e desafios. Os desafios associados à aprendizagem móvel não se limitam a aspectos de desenvolvimento ou tecnologias. Deve-se, também, considerar os aspectos pedagógicos deste tipo de aplicação. Ao lidar com software específico de determinado domínio, deve-se considerar os requisitos de tal domínio. Portanto, é importante ter conhecimento especializado na equipe de engenharia de requisitos e, no caso de projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel, esse conhecimento é proveniente de educadores, professores e tutores. No entanto, capturar e transferir o conhecimento tácito não é uma tarefa trivial e um mecanismo de apoio para orientar a fase de elicitação de requisitos em projetos de aplicativos de aprendizagem móvel seria de suma importância. As linguagens de padrões são reconhecidas como método para descrever o conhecimento tácito e podem ser usadas como mecanismo de apoio. Os padrões são um mecanismo para capturar a experiência e o conhecimento do domínio para permitir que ele seja reaplicado quando um novo problema for encontrado. Da mesma forma, os padrões pedagógicos tentam capturar o conhecimento especializado da prática do ensino e da aprendizagem. Com o objetivo de resolver, ou pelo menos minimizar, os problemas associados à aprendizagem móvel e devido à falta de padrões pedagógicos para este propósito, este trabalho tem como objetivo criar uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos para auxiliar na fase de elicitação de requisitos dos projetos de aplicações de aprendizagem móvel. Neste contexto, foi criada uma linguagem de padrões pedagógicos, denominada MLearning-PL, composta por 14 padrões e cujo foco é auxiliar na definição de aplicativos móveis de maneira a manter os apredizes motivados e comprometidos ao usar tais aplicativos, considerando seus diferentes estilos de aprendizagem e uma aquisição de conhecimento efetiva. Estudos experimentais comparando a MLearning- PL a uma abordagem ad hoc em um cenário de resolução de problemas pedagógicos foram realizados. Os resultados obtidos forneceram evidências preliminares a respeito da aplicabilidade, eficácia e eficiência da MLearning-PL

Fostering leadership skills of technology professionals in startups

This paper presents an investigation on how the startup environment fosters the development and improvement of the leadership skills of technology professionals. From the beginning of the 90s, new products and new technologies began to appear at a much faster pace and, since then, significant changes have occurred in corporate, academic environ-ments and in everyday interpersonal relationships. In this scenario, new types of business have also emerged, such as startups, considered an innovative enterprise, with the poten-tial to grow and scale. Minds ahead of all this innovation were necessary and, therefore, a new type of leader emerged. A leader who not only guides the followers but encourages leadership by them. Particularly in the startup environment, leadership becomes even more fundamental. As these entrepreneurs must keep these organizations in constant and strong growth, the ability to manage and motivate people to follow the same path becomes an essential part of the process. In this context, we aimed to answer the following research question: “How do the startup environments foster the development and improvement of the leadership skills of technology professionals?”. Aiming to answer the posed research question, we conducted a case study with four subjects. In this paper, we discuss each step of the case study and present the gathered results. As a result, we have identified three main categories of factors that promote the development and improvement of such professionals: open culture, leadership skills, and accelerated growth