Edward J. Coyle

Team-based software/system development in a vertically-integrated project-based course

We use per-student virtual machines to allow new students to configure servers, thus enabling them to develop an understanding of the complex eStadium system. The outcomes include: student learning as the per-student virtual machines progress into software development and production machines supporting the eStadium game-day environment; the teamwork and leadership skills that evolve as students progress from initial learning to leadership roles in the creation of sophisticated applications; guidelines for instructors mentoring students through the process of building and maintaining a working production system; and, parallels with best-practice software and system development in industry. The use of peer-evaluations and social-network studies enable us to determine how the students interact with and learn from each other across years (sophomores through seniors). This cross year, cross experience-level learning process is essential for maintaining the technical and team continuity of the project. It also prepares students in a very realistic way for the software-development process in industry.

On project-based learning through the vertically-integrated projects program

Georgia Techs Colleges of Engineering and Computing initiated the Vertically-Integrated Projects (VIP) program in January 2009. Undergraduate students that join VIP teams earn academic credit for participating in design efforts that assist faculty and graduate students with research and development issues in their technical areas. The teams are: multidisciplinary — drawing students from around the university; vertically-integrated — maintaining a mix of sophomores through PhD students each semester; and long-term — each undergraduate student may participate in a project for up to six semesters. We describe the Video and Image Annotation VIP (VIA-VIP) project, which provides undergraduates unique opportunities to learn and apply state-of-the-art video-mining algorithms by processing a large archive of football videos recorded from GT football games. Their results are documented. Based on their feedback we believe the VIA-VIP course is on track to meet the needs of undergraduates in areas they dont usually see in the traditional undergraduate classroom.