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Aligning the learning experience in a project-based course: lessons learned from the redesign of a programming lab

Published: 07 February 2023 Publication History

Abstract

In teaching and training the next generation of software engineers, programming labs with students working together in small groups provide the opportunity to obtain hands-on experience for software projects involving multiple developers. However, more than other types of courses, programming labs face some challenges in providing a similar learning outcome for all students. Based on feedback and own experience from various iterations of the programming lab at TU Dortmund University, we identified that the learning experience varies significantly due to heterogeneous prior knowledge, experience levels, and personality traits of both students and tutors.
In this experience report, we present our approach towards aligning the learning experience by applying three different didactic improvements based on well-studied concepts: (1) the idea of workedout examples is transferred to teaching the software development process by providing a small software application with all corresponding artefacts like diagrams, program code and documentation, focusing on their relationships and development activities. (2) Goal-oriented and structured learning is used to define learning outcomes for every group meeting as a common ground, while audience response systems are utilized to motivate the attendance and allow students to self-reflect on their knowledge and competence level. (3) We harmonize the role of tutors by holding dedicated teaching workshops for tutors' responsibilities in the programming lab.
The different approaches are evaluated based on surveys for students and tutors over three iterations of the programming lab at TU Dortmund University. Both sides' positive responses and feedback resulted in an enumeration of lessons learned as recommendations and support for other similar courses.

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  • (2023)Software Engineering Education for the Next Generation SEENG 2022 Workshop ReportACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/3573074.357310448:1(112-116)Online publication date: 17-Jan-2023

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cover image ACM Conferences
SEENG '22: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Software Engineering Education for the Next Generation
May 2022
70 pages
ISBN:9781450393362
DOI:10.1145/3528231
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Published: 07 February 2023

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Author Tags

  1. audience response system
  2. learning outcomes
  3. programming lab
  4. software engineering
  5. tutoring
  6. worked-out examples

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  • (2023)Software Engineering Education for the Next Generation SEENG 2022 Workshop ReportACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/3573074.357310448:1(112-116)Online publication date: 17-Jan-2023

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