How ‘learnable’ are CASE tools in diverse user communities?

Abstract

The use of Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools for teaching object-oriented systems analysis and design (OOSAD) and the Unified Modelling Language (UML) has many potential benefits, but there are several problems associated with the usability and learnability of these tools. This paper describes a study undertaken to determine if computing students from a linguistically and technologically diverse community experience problems with learning to use a CASE tool, and to determine if there is a relationship between two user characteristics of the students and the learnability of CASE tools.