Service Learning and Software Engineering: Managing 'Real World' Group Projects

摘要

As we approach each new semester of teaching Software Engineering, we are challenged with the prospect of creating multiple semester-long projects for our students to complete. Ideally, these projects will challenge, inspire and excite our students, especially if the projects successfully engage the students throughout the semester. This task is not one to be taken lightly, because the choice of projects can "make or break" a semester. Projects derived from outside the confines of the classroom are ideal, because they can offer "real world" experiences for our students. These experiences truly help the students realize that there is a much more to "software engineering" than what might be presented in the chapters in the book, and that developing the required materials throughout the software life cycle is both a "science" and an "art". Of course, another major challenge faced by faculty concerns managing the groups throughout the design life cycle. This paper describes some of the projects we completed this semester, then focuses on the approaches I have taken to (and the associated "lessons learned" from) managing these "real world" projects.