research-article

Students Perception on the use of Project-Based Learning in Software Engineering Education

Authors:

Maurício Souza,

Renata Moreira,

Eduardo FigueiredoAuthors Info & Claims

SBES '19: Proceedings of the XXXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering

Pages 537 - 546

https://doi.org/10.1145/3350768.3352457

Published: 23 September 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Balancing theory and practice is a recurring challenge in Software Engineering (SE) education. However, the curriculum guidelines of the ACM/IEEE and Brazilian Computer Society emphasize the need of providing students with sufficient practical experiences for the development of competences expected for SE professional. Student-centered and learn-by-doing approaches, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), have been advocated as suited for the development of competences. These approaches aim to promote higher motivation for the learner, a more active role in the learning process, and better learning in the application level. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the students' perception on the adoption of PBL in SE education. To achieve this goal, we performed a long-term study spanning for about 2 years. This study includes a survey to collect responses of 32 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory SE course that used PBL. We compare the results to the responses of 17 students who participated in a SE course with similar syllabus but with a traditional teacher-centered learning method (non-PBL). Our results show a positive reception of the PBL method, and an increased perception of the contribution of a practical software development assignment in learning specific SE topics in the context of the PBL course, in comparison to a non-PBL method.

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Pollini NMaggi KVerdecchia RVicario E(2024)Learning Programming without Teachers: An Ongoing Ethnographic Study at 42Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering10.1145/3661167.3661275(590-594)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661167.3661275
Shah AYu JTong TSoosai Raj AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Working with Large Code Bases: A Cognitive Apprenticeship Approach to Teaching Software EngineeringProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630755(1209-1215)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
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Index Terms

Students Perception on the use of Project-Based Learning in Software Engineering Education
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Software engineering education

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Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

SBES '19: Proceedings of the XXXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering

September 2019

583 pages

ISBN:9781450376518

DOI:10.1145/3350768

General Chairs:
Ivan Machado
UFBA
,
Rodrigo Souza
UFBA
,
Rita Suzana Maciel
UFBA
,
Claudio Sant'Anna
UFBA

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SBC: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação

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New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 September 2019

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Research-article
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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

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SBES 2019

SBES 2019: XXXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering

September 23 - 27, 2019

Salvador, Brazil

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SBES '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 67 of 153 submissions, 44%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 147 of 427 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Tsai F(2024)Development and Evaluation of an Internet of Things Project for Preservice Elementary School TeachersSustainability10.3390/su1617763216:17(7632)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177632
Pollini NMaggi KVerdecchia RVicario E(2024)Learning Programming without Teachers: An Ongoing Ethnographic Study at 42Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering10.1145/3661167.3661275(590-594)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661167.3661275
Shah AYu JTong TSoosai Raj AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Working with Large Code Bases: A Cognitive Apprenticeship Approach to Teaching Software EngineeringProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630755(1209-1215)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630755
Ali THagal MElmarzaki HMaatuk A(2024)Evaluating the Extent of Application of Software Engineering Concepts in Graduation Projects: A Case Study2024 IEEE 4th International Maghreb Meeting of the Conference on Sciences and Techniques of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering (MI-STA)10.1109/MI-STA61267.2024.10599700(130-135)Online publication date: 19-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MI-STA61267.2024.10599700
Tenbergen BMead N(2024)Technology Acquisition Plans to Foster Supply Chain Risk Management Learning Outcomes in Project-Based Software Development Courses2024 36th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T)10.1109/CSEET62301.2024.10663048(1-10)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/CSEET62301.2024.10663048
Maia M(2023)Crossed Teams: Leveraging Student Interaction in Software Engineering PracticeProceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering10.1145/3613372.3614198(524-533)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613372.3614198
Colanzi TSilva LMedeiros AGonçalves PSouza EFarias DAmaral G(2023)Practicing the Extension in Software Engineering Education: an Experience ReportProceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering10.1145/3613372.3614196(514-523)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613372.3614196
Oran ALima RGadelha BMaia NSilva WRivero L(2023)Empowering Technical Skills and Soft Skills in Software Engineering Students through Problem-Based LearningProceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering10.1145/3613372.3614192(348-357)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613372.3614192
Petersheim CLahey JCherian JPina AAlexander GHammond T(2023)Comparing Student and Recruiter Evaluations of Computer Science ResumesIEEE Transactions on Education10.1109/TE.2022.319968566:2(130-138)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2022.3199685
Martinez-Plumed FHernández-Orallo J(2023)Training Data Scientists Through Project-Based LearningIEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje10.1109/RITA.2023.330295418:3(295-304)Online publication date: Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/RITA.2023.3302954
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