Using community-based projects in software engineering education

Abstract

Over the past six years, Seattle University's Master of Software Engineering program has adopted a common community-based software engineering project as the basis for class projects in a sequence of required and elective courses. These related projects offer a unifying experience for students in the program, allow in-depth treatment of course topics on a real software project, address needs of local non-profit organizations, and better prepare the students for their professional careers through civic engagement and leadership.

Hybrid Active Teaching Methodology for Learning Development

“…(8) Formative Assessment [16]: The ongoing assessment enabled students to understand their progress and improve, opening them up to continuous learning advantages of understanding what they can immediately change. ( 9) Local Community and Social Impact Projects [17]: Involvement in projects with social impact transformed students' perspectives on their role in society and inspired them to engage in the development from an external demand. (10) Soft Skills Development [9,10]: By strengthening interpersonal skills such as leadership and teamwork, conducted considering their entrepreneurial profile, helped deliver pitches and other artifacts created throughout the course.…”

Software engineering for millennials, by millennials

“…In the rest of this paper, a team is a group that "performs a defined, specialized task within a definite period, and whose members are generally cross-functional and disband after project termination" [6]. Roshandel et al [13] state that many SE courses now include projects: team-based SE projects that students must develop using techniques learned in classroom.…”