Giving computer science students real-world experience

Villarreal, E. E.; Butler, Dennis J.

doi:10.1145/273133.273157

Cited by 29 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Increased motivation from knowing their work will actually be used [4] to having fun with live projects [13] • Experience with having work critiqued by actual clients [10] • An integration experience applying concepts learned to live projects [6] This session will explain how and why live projects have been integrated into the computing curriculum at Radford University, and to help the audience understand how it is possible to overcome the challenges associated with live projects. These challenges include:…”

Section: Overall Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating Live Projects Into Computing Curriculum

Chase

Uppuluri

Lewis

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

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SUMMARYIt is well understood and has been well documented that there is much to gain by using live projects in the computer science classroom [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Live projects include those that serve a real client with a real problem as well as those those that integrate live datasets. However, the use of live projects has always come with a variety of challenges including supporting the project once it is complete, providing secure and safe access to large data sets, adjusting live client expectations, and limiting the scope of a project to the context of a single term and within the learning outcomes. The purpose of this special session is to provide attendees an introduction to and examples of the way that live projects have been integrated throughout the computing curriculum at Radford University. OVERALL OBJECTIVEUsing live projects in a computer science course provides a variety of benefits for the students including: • Experience with realistic situations, strict deadlines, teamwork, written and oral communications skills [11, 12] • Easing the transition from school to work [9] • Experience with unstable client requirements [7] • The challenge of working with a large, complex project with uncertain requirements [5] • Experience with pair and/or team programming working with real clients and real timelines [8] • Increased motivation from knowing their work will actually be used [4] to having fun with live projects [13] • Experience with having work critiqued by actual clients [10] • An integration experience applying concepts learned to live projects [6]This session will explain how and why live projects have been integrated into the computing curriculum at Radford University, and to help the audience understand how it is possible to overcome the challenges associated with live projects. These challenges include:• Increased time, organizational and pedagogical demands on the instructor [1] -includes issues such as pre-semester analysis and design and post-project maintenance• Constraining the scope of a project to meet the academic calendar [6] • Access to appropriate, secure data sets free of identifying personal information • Solicitation of clients for one or two term projects • Management of consistency and synergy when large projects are broken down into one semester chunks

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Section: Overall Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…">SUMMARYIt is well understood and has been well documented that there is much to gain by using live projects in the computer science classroom [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Live projects include those that serve a real client with a real problem as well as those those that integrate live datasets.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Live Projects Into Computing Curriculum

Chase

Uppuluri

Lewis

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

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“…In the same way, the benefits of having the results of their work critiqued by a real client cannot be underestimated [9]. Villarreal and Butler [12] found that students had fun with live projects and that the students reported that their classroom experience was more meaningful than usual.…”

Section: Benefits Of Live Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using live projects without pain

2007

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It is well understood and has been well documented that there is much to gain by using live projects, those that serve a real client with a real problem to solve, in the computer science classroom. However the use of live projects has always come with a variety of obstacles including providing support for the project once it is complete and limiting the scope of a project to the context of a single term. This paper describes the development of the Small Project Support Center at Radford University that has been designed to eliminate these obstacles.

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“…Guidelines for supporting effective team interaction were proposed by Brown and Dobbie [1]. Team projects have been incorporated into database [5] HCI [2], and capstone [4] courses…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A study of building quality into an existing information system

Tan

Jones

2007

2007 37th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference - Global Engineering: Knowledge Without Borders, Opportunities Without Passp

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Are the students we are graduating from Computer Science ready for the challenges they will face in industry? Will they be able to work effectively with coworkers to solve problems? Do they have good communication skills to work efficiently in a team environment? These are some of the issues that demand our attention as instructors of Computer Science. Yet, most of our students are given "toy" problems to solve. They rarely have the opportunity to analyze and design a solution from problem specification through its implementation. Further, many students do not have the proper social and written skills to succeed in the real world. Two courses offered in the 2006-2007 academic year provided an opportunity for students to face the issues mentioned. In Fall of 2006, students worked with a real client and implemented a system from problem specification through implementation. In Spring of 2007, students followed a rapid testing strategy to re-engineer quality into the existing system.

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Giving computer science students real-world experience

Cited by 29 publications

References 1 publication

Integrating Live Projects Into Computing Curriculum

Integrating Live Projects Into Computing Curriculum

Using live projects without pain

A study of building quality into an existing information system

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