Introducing competitiveness and industry involvement as learning tools

摘要

Technology in the real world is subject to continuous changes, pushing the learning content and models to flexibly adjust to the new requirements of the industry. The industry must be deeply involved in the training experience, to make sure the learning stays relevant. On the other hand, increasing competitiveness in the learning experience improves students' motivation and inspire them to reach higher levels of excellence. In this paper, we describe a learning environment where students following an undergraduate software engineering course feel engaged and empowered. The methodology we use in this course is a combination of three main ideas: competition among student teams; Project Based Learning (PBL); and engaging an industry expert to lead each team of students. In this way, four teams, of about ten students each, compete to design and develop the best possible software project, based on the same requirements. Each team is led by an industry expert, playing the role of product owner or project manager.