Kirti Garg

A Study of the Effectiveness of Case Study Approach in Software Engineering Education

Software engineering (SE) educators have been advocating the use of non-conventional approaches for SE education since long. In this context, we conducted action-research to compare the effectiveness of a case study approach with conventional lecture based approach. We designed and taught a first course in SE, that involved case study approach as well as the traditional lecture based approach. We recorded and analyzed students perception of learning over using well defined parameters that reconciled with cognitive, skills and metacognitive goals of SE education. Results corroborated that case study approach is more effective and interesting for learning SE than the lecture based approach. These results indicate that academia and industry should further explore learning-by-doing paradigm, specially the case studies. Benefits of approach include bridging of the industry- academia gap and creation of professionals who are well versed with theory and practice and have experienced the intricacies of real software development even before entering the industry. This paper provides empirical data to support that case study approach is very effective in SE education and hence useful for curriculum designers. This work is useful for SE educators and researchers as it describes methodology for rigorous scientific educational research.

Case studies: the potential teaching instruments for software engineering education

The current approaches to the software engineering education fall short to fulfill the industry demand for quality software engineering. A constant need to create and imbibe more effective learning environments is growing in order to manage this demand. This paper discusses the learning disabilities possessed by both the conventional and the non-conventional approaches for teaching software engineering. We propose that case studies can be used as effective teaching mediums and a case study centric learning environment can address these learning disabilities. A case study approach can help the students to gain and retain realistic exposure to concepts of software engineering as they are applied in the real world, and the students of today can be groomed as excellent professionals who have experienced the intricacies and complexities of the real world as well as tried their hands to manage these complexities.

People issues relating to software engineering education and training in India

Software Engineering (SE) and Information Technology (IT) jobs are the most sought after career options for Indian youth in the recent times. Indian Software industry is expected to grow at a very healthy rate and each major software company has ambitious plans and growth targets for future. However, lack of proper Software Engineering (SE) education may have severe consequences and may negatively affect these growth targets. In this paper we discuss challenges and issues related to software engineering education and training in Indian academia and industry. These are based on our interaction with industry and through our experience as Software engineering educators. These challenges arise from deep rooted issues in Software Engineering educational goals, pedagogy and instruction as well as the infrastructure. We will discuss their long term effects on various aspects of software development. We put forth our suggestions that may handle these challenges to an extent. We also discuss the essential and minimal set of software engineering knowledge, skills and dispositions that the industry requires from young engineers willing to join the industry. This paper provides course designing guidelines for the academia and learning centers of the industry by focusing on important SE education issues, their causes and possible solutions. This, in turn would help to make SE Education more effective and inline with requirements of the Indian Software industry

Case Studies as Assessment Tools in Software Engineering Classrooms

and complex problems by applying varied SE knowledge skills along with problem solving, critical thinking, use of tools, communication skills etc. Thus they have multiple, complex and some higher order cognitive learning goals. Traditional assessment tools like multiple choice questions, subjective questions, etc., may not always be an optimal choice for such a SE course and may not satisfy learning sciences principle and guidelines of assessment design. Case studies in SE have been used since long for research and investigation, recently in teaching, but not as assessment tools. In this paper, we propose and examine the use of SE case studies as assessment tools. We also describe an approach for objective and easy evaluation of solutions. This work reasons that carefully designed case studies can be effective as well as efficient assessment tools for SE education such that they are not only closely aligned with learning goals, but are also in accordance with learning sciences.

An effective learning environment for teaching problem solving in software architecture

A software architect engages in solving Software Engineering (SE) problems throughout his career. Thus inculcating problem solving skills should be one of the learning objectives of SE academic and training programs. But structured problem solving is usually latent or missing in most of the current curriculum. In this paper, we describe an effective learning environment for SE education and training with problem solving as an integral part. The learning environment is in accordance with Learning Sciences theory and practices. Our study strengthens our belief that such a problem based environment will help to create professionals well versed with theory and practice of software architecture and problem solving, and thus more productive and useful for the industry.

Security: Bridging the Academia-Industry Gap Using a Case Study

Security is one of the major concerns of modern software development, but there is a wide gap between the industry practice and the academic instruction. Security issues are usually not addressed in academic setup and those attempt to make it as part of their software engineering curriculum realize quickly that it is difficult to make learning happen in a conventional lecture based approach. We explored a case study centered non-conventional approach and found it to be instrumental in bridging this gap between the industry and the academia. We give a detailed methodology for using the case study and our experience, observations and result of the approach. Whole case exercise aims at creating software professionals who realize the importance of security and are well versed with the related concepts, skills and dispositions and thus handle security related challenges in a structured manner.

SAGE: An Approach to Evaluate the Impact of SOA Governance Policies

We propose SAGE (Service Oriented Architecture Governance Evaluation) as a quantitative approach, to evaluate the impact of SOA governance policies on prominent quality attributes. Our approach facilitates an exhaustive quantitative impact analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of SOA governance policies. This can be further used to estimate the current maturity level of any SOA based enterprise. The use of SAGE at an initial stage will help to make SOA management more structured and effective.

Systemic Requirements of a Software Engineering Learning Environment

Software Engineering (SE) educators worldwide are attempting to create learning environments that can effectively achieve their desired learning objectives. However, there exist additional needs that impact the learning process and the overall quality of a learning environment. We identified two sets of differentiating requirements, Climatic and Systemic, whose inclusion in design can assist in an effective, sustainable and usable SE learning environment. In this paper, we will describe the Systemic requirements, i.e. the desired system wide capabilities that impact the sustainability of a SE learning environment by affecting its operationalization and use in short and long term. We will also discuss, through few examples, the interactions between various differentiating requirements. Current SE course design and evaluation consider these as challenges to deal later, instead of addressing them through a conscientious design. Such courses find it hard to sustain and evolve with time, despite using powerful pedagogies. We intend to change this design approach by identifying and recording the various needs (as requirements) and their influence on the learning environment. Our aim is to draw attention to these differentiating requirements and help the educators look beyond learning objectives and move towards a more holistic and systematic design of SE learning environments.

Multimedia Case Studies in Software Engineering: A Look at MDM CAP: A Case Authoring Platform for Education and Training

Multimedia Case Studies in Software Engineering: A Look at MDM CAP: A Case Authoring Platform for Education and Training Gil Taran Carnegie Mellon University gtaran@cs.cmu.edu Vasudeva Varma, Kirti Garg IIIT Hyderabad vv@iiit.ac.in, kirti@research.iiit.ac.in Session Description Case studies are a powerful teaching technique and an effective way to learn about how to make decisions on software projects and how to analyze and learn from real life scenarios. Multimedia cases provide an even more captivating way for learners to use the case study approach through an engaging interactive experience that enhances learning and makes it more enjoyable. A recent project at Carnegie Mellon University developed an authoring platform for case studies. Its goal was to provide academics and industry professionals alike with a framework and tool set to create various types of multimedia case studies with enhanced user interaction and decision making capabilities. IIIT Hyderabad has been using case studies as learning and teaching tools for SE education. Action research at IIIT Hyderabad has confirmed the effectiveness of case studies for teaching SE. In this session educators and trainers will be exposed to creating multimedia cases using the MDM-CAP tool developed for that purpose. Participants will be able to choose between creating a sequential case or a “choose your own adventure” case where decisions have to be made by learners in every step of the way. Session Objectives Participants will: • Understand how to use case studies, in various formats (sequential and adventure) in the classroom for teaching software engineering. • Create case studies using the MDM CAP authoring tool and then see how it would look to a student using the viewer platform 22nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training