Teaching Software Development using a Mock Software Coding Company

1. Teaching Software Development using a Mock Software Coding Company Phil Campbell C.I.S.E. London South Bank University HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006 HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

2. Addressing a distinct set of problems. Higher National Diploma Students with some Weak students Attendance problems Disenchantment with education Reluctance to engage with the material Strongly bi-modal groups Why do this? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

3. To the Large Software Building Unit Welcome at London South Bank University Simulating the workplace they just don't get paid HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

4. Why use a simulation to teach Software Development? To engage students Make it... real relevant enjoyable and... engender ownership of learning process and autonomous learning. HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

5. To combat some student expectations. Weak Students view You give me things to do, I do them with as little effort as I can, You give me a piece of paper (Cert), I get a job with lots of money. Supermarket education Get what you want with the minimum effort Why use a simulation to teach Software Development? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

6. I want to help you to: acquire as much knowledge and as many skills as you are able to. develop confidence and self reliance working in this domain. work at the higher levels of Blooms taxonomy Why use a simulation to teach Software Development? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

7. Large programming projects deliver very different learning environments from lots of small programs. Different set of problems to solve communication between developers design / specification more important development process control strategic rather than tactical. Provides a clear rationale for the use of tools and techniques. Ant, CVS, JUnit, UML.... Make it real? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

8. Approach does not lie easily with rigidly written "Learning Outcomes". Requires flexibility and a higher level of technical engagement from the teaching staff. It cannot guarantee a consistent learning environment for each student. Problems in adopting this approach HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

9. Teaching the use of CVS system Traditional: Lecture on CVS Handouts and supporting material Exercise using CVS Just how different? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

10. Weeks 1-2 Writing own versions (lots of talk about sharing code) Floppies / pen drives.. Weeks 3-4 Use discussion boards to upload the latest version of a class Weeks 5+ All work uploaded onto CVS (And having to live with the consequences) Handouts and supporting material available on Blackboard Reflective commentary written in logbook. Just how different? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

11. Car Park Tickets Typical Scenarios Sure Pay Parking Systems 28/09/05 07:06:54, 1200001, IN, 07:09:00, 1200002, IN, 07:12:10, 1200003, IN, 07:15:40, 1200004, IN, 07:23:58, 1200005, IN, 07:24:15, 1200005, PAY, 0.30 07:29:55, 1200003, PAY, 0.30 07:30:18, 1200006, IN, 07:33:05, 1200007, IN, 07:33:12, 1200005, OUT, 07:35:49, 1200008, IN, 07:36:47, 1200006, PAY, 0.30 07:38:52, 1200003, OUT, 07:41:39, 1200009, IN, ...... another 700 lines Find Number of cars Total amount taken Total number of each payment amount Average time of stay Number of lost tickets Maximum number of cars in the car park at any one time HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

12. Car Park Tickets Large text file, each Ticket appears 3 times ( or with a corresponding 'lost' entry) in csv format. Typical Scenarios Reader Ticket Date * Summary CarPark Controller Student solution HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

13. Multiple Choice Exam Analysis Typical Scenarios StNo [,QuNo, attempted, timetaken, confident, correct]* 810004,Q111,Y,62 ,3,N,Q183,Y,120,2,N,Q112,Y,186,2,N ...x50 810006,Q154,Y,54 ,3,N,Q149,Y,107,2,Y,Q174,Y,86 ,3,N 810010,Q121,Y,125,2,Y,Q103,Y,91 ,2,N,Q185,Y,153,1,N ...450 lines Which were the easiest questions Which were the hardest questions How did each student score HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

14. To : The Large Software Building Unit From: S.W. Indle [indle@slate.ac.uk] Date: 01/02/06 RE : Discussions on proposed program ------------------------------------- Hi, Just to put into words our recent conversation. First, thank you for supplying the Multiple Choice question system which is working better than we would have thought possible, unfortunately, we are having a bit of trouble with the statistics coming out of the program. would it be possible to have a program to read the data file and produce a summary of the results for us. it would help if you could include the following. 1. A list of the final scores for each student. 2. An analysis of each question as to how difficult it was, how many people got it wrong or right and how long an average students spent answering the question. It would help to see how confident students were for each question too. HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

15. 3. We would like to know which marking scheme is the better for the students. Should we use the confidence scores or should we just allocate 1 mark for each correct answer and multiply by 2 to make it up to 100% ? 4. Might it be possible to password protect the program so that it cannot be run by just anyone. 5. Since we would be doing this every time we have an examination session, could we somehow specify the file to process? thanks Steve Indle Program Director. Slate School of Art HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

16. Mark Weight Score Understanding and use of Java 8 1.0 8.0 Development of Software Analysis 6 0.5 4.0 Program Code 3 0.7 2.1 Debugging 0.5 Refactoring 0.5 Using Tools Javadoc 0.8 CVS 0.8 JUnit 0.8 Research 0.5 Working with others 0.4 Support to programming team 0.5 Logbook quality 0.5 Personal Evaluation 0.5 Total ____ / 80 Overall group Mark ____ / 20 Final ______% Logbook Assessment HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

17. Establish the ethos right from the start. Choose scenarios that are not run of the mill. Have a number of different scenarios ready at different levels. If you are going to try this HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

18. Be prepared to go through the requirements many times. Do not give a scenario to students if you cannot produce an answer yourself. Try very hard not to steer students to your solution. (This is difficult) If you are going to try this HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

19. Weak students need to know what "understanding" means. Students being told to "go and find out" can think they are being ignored (legacy thinking?). Watch out for "Analysis Paralysis" it is an easy cop out. Let the design cover only what is needed at the moment. Encourage refactoring and insist on unit testing. If you are going to try this HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

20. Give additional marks to those helping the group process. Give a clear indication what deliverables are required. Weak students especially need the structure as a support. If the requirements are not made clear you will get a lot of irrelevant program code and other materials stuck into the portfolio. If you are going to try this HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006

21. Phil Campbell C.I.S.E London South Bank University campbep@lsbu.ac.uk More information Questions ? HEA-ICS Dublin Conference 2006