1. Effective Pedagogical Principles and Practices in Teaching Software Engineering through Projects
Valentin Razmov
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

2. My Goals
Inform
Involve
Inspire

3. Outline Background, Context, and Goals Main Pedagogical Principles
Learning Formula
Practices Related to “Doing”
Practices Related to “Feedback”
Practices Related to “Reflecting”
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

4. Background: Course Goals and Organization
Course: Software Engineering (intro)
Enrollments varied between 8 and 39
Learning Goals: How to work effectively in large teams and deliver value on long-term projects
Organization:
Students work in teams of 6-8 on term-long projects
Project milestones every 2.5 weeks
Post-milestone events:
Informal feedback discussions and Q&A with instructors
Anonymous peer feedback within teams
Individual reflective writings on project-related experiences
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FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI 4

5. Main Organizing Principles
Giving students an opportunity to correct early missteps
Blending “soft” topics into the curriculum
Keeping open the bi-directional feedback channels b/w students and instructor
Enabling prompt adjustments
Having students own their decisions
Keeping students’ motivation high and maintaining their vested interest
Establishing a baseline for evaluating changes between course offerings
Students picking their projects is good because it: follows the students’ energy; projects are likely more relevant to their interests.
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6. Learning Formula Learning = (Doing + Feedback + Reflection)+
Synergy between the three components
Positive feedback loop between them, not a fixed contribution of each component
More/less of one element means more/less of the others too
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

7. Practices Related to “Doing”
Incremental project deliveries
Allows time to fail early, try again, and recover
Builds confidence and creates space for feedback
Early integration of project components
a.k.a. “zero-feature release”
Sets up all needed tools to work reliably together
Use of professional tools
Helps to recreate a realistic project environment
Students propose and pick projects
Increases dedication and gives students a stake
A project is a playground for learning, not an end goal
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

8. Practices Related to “Feedback”: Just-in-Time Feedback
Increases relevance of feedback
Feedback to/from students, to/from instructors
Enables instructors to frequently see where students are
Mechanisms:
“Minute Paper”
Mid-term and end-of-term student surveys
Reflective writings
Anonymous feedback
Classroom interaction systems (e.g., Classroom Presenter)
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

9. Just-in-Time Feedback in Action
“Minute Paper” using Classroom Presenter
Post-milestone in-class project retrospective
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

10. Just-in-Time Feedback in Action (cont.)
Student surveys
Mid-term / end-of-term
Specific questions to find out what worked well, what did not work well, what changes may help
Goals: evaluate risks, reveal surprises, and compare with previous measurements
Survey evolution based on predictability of the responses, need to elaborate on specific areas, need to cover new themes/aspects featured in the latest offerings
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11. Practices Related to “Feedback”: Iterative Peer Feedback
Each student provides and receives feedback
Automated collection, aggregation, and dissemination of peer feedback results
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

12. Practices Related to “Feedback”: Feedback on Reflective Writings
Feedback in electronic form
Improves readability and speed
Provides more space for comments
Enables questions and answers in the same document
Noting student grade could be separate
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

13. Practices Related to “Reflection”
Regular project and course retrospectives
Goals:
Create a lasting record of what instructors learned
A balanced, “big picture” view of course
Formulate intention for change
Transfer distilled lessons easily to other instructors
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

14. Practices Related to “Reflection”
Regular project and course retrospectives
Team size to promote need for communication

15. Practices Related to “Reflection”
Regular project and course retrospectives
Team size to promote need for communication
Timing reflective activities to capture experiences
Shortly after project milestones works best

16. Practices Related to “Reflection”
Regular project and course retrospectives
Team size to promote need for communication
Timing reflective activities to capture experiences
Shortly after project milestones
Changing requirements reveals quality of design
Possibly done as a thought exercise to avoid chaos
E.g., localization
Explicitly “changing hats” when switching roles
Instructors play evaluator, coach, facilitator, expert, customer
Motivating and carefully timing “soft” topics
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

17. Summary of Results
Distilled principles and practices to aid (software) engineering instruction
Demonstrated practicality and positive effect in a real course over multiple terms
Enabled steady incremental evolution of courses
Selectively employed by different instructors in several courses
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FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI 17

18. Acknowledgements Prof. Richard Anderson
My colleagues and students at the University of Washington
HP, Microsoft Research External Research & Programs, NSF
People and organizations without whom this work would not have been possible or would not have been worth it
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

19. Additional Resources
Effective Feedback Approaches to Support Engineering Instruction and Training in Project Settings, by Valentin Razmov, PhD thesis, 2007.
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI

20. Discussion
Questions?
Oct 13, 2007
FIE 2007, Milwaukee, WI