Revolutionizing Computer Science and Software Engineering Education
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Item A Software Engineer’s Competencies: Undergraduate Preconceptions in Contrast to Teaching Intentions(2019-01-08) Gold-Veerkamp, CarolinUnlike numerous scientific disciplines, the field of engineering has rarely been subject to investigations of undergraduate pre-/misconceptions except for STEM subjects within engineering degrees. When it comes to Software Engineering, some special issues have to be taken into account (e.g. novelty of the discipline and immateriality of the product) that make this discipline hard to teach and learn. Additionally, it requires a wide range of different technical competencies as well as soft skills. As a consequence, the goal is to improve learning by using undergraduates’ “right” conceptions as “points of departure” and reduce learning obstacles by facing misconceptions. This paper is giving some first insights into a quantitative study conducted with undergraduates – before and after instruction – as well as two professors using a questionnaire to rate Software Engineering competencies to elicit preconceptions.Item The Hatchery: An Agile and Effective Curricular Innovation for Transforming Undergraduate Education(2019-01-08) Andersen, Tim; Jain, Amit; Salzman, Noah; Winiecki, Don; Siebert, CarlThe Computer Science Professionals Hatchery utilizes strong partnerships with industry and a vertically integrated curriculum structure, embedding principles of ethics and social justice and diversity, to create a nurturing, software company environment for students that also provides tools to allow them to take on the challenges of real-life company environment. The goal is to produce graduates who are well-rounded, who have a shorter pathway to full productivity after graduation, who can be leaders, and who can operate as agents of positive change in the companies where they work.Item Practicing Scrum in Institute Course(2019-01-08) Hsu, Hwai-JungScrum is one of the most popular agile methods following \textit{Manifesto for Agile Software Development}, and is a value-driven software development approach which focuses on maximizing the values of the customers. Many top software companies like Amazon.com, Apple, and Microsoft directly apply Scrum and other Agile methods for developing great software products. To raise the talents required by industry, teaching agile methods in university is necessary. However, with the limits of time, space, and experts in agile development, it can be difficult for students to learn the practices of agile methods in college. In this paper, we describe an experimental course in Feng Chia University that practices Scrum for term projects among five teams composed of 34 students. To the best of our knowledge the practices is the few attempts to practically apply all the factors described in Scrum framework such as sprint planning, daily scrum, review, retrospective meetings, product owner, and scrum master in institutional agile education. In this paper, the design and the process of the term projects based on Scrum are described, and the lessons learned from practicing Scrum in college are presented as discussion.Item A Lightweight Co-Construction Activity for Teaching 21st Century Skills at Primary Schools(2019-01-08) Laato, Samuli; Pope, NicolasEmploying learning processes that promote 21st Century skills is now a requirement in Finnish schools and elsewhere. Participatory design/co-design activities have shown to foster design thinking and computational thinking skills in primary school level participants, but a lightweight applicable model of such an activity is yet to be presented. We develop a lightweight hybrid co-construction method based on software development via two exploratory case studies in a Finnish primary school. For the purpose of evaluating objectively the motivating effects of our activity, we elaborate upon four concerning dimensions that arise from previous studies. In our resulting activity, an adult programmer is partnered with a group of children to, in this case, construct math games together. The children felt empowered and motivated by working with us in this way, however, further study is required on the effects this kind of an activity has in comparison to alternative teaching methods.