Student perceptions and attitudes towards the

software factory as a learning environment Muhammad Ovais Ahmad ,

Kari Liukkunen,

Jouni Markkula

Agenda

• Motivation

• Research problem

• Research Method

• Results and discussion

• Conclusion and future work

Motivation

Industry needs graduates from universities having knowledge and skills to tackle the practical

issues of real life software development.

To facilitate software engineering students and fulfill industry need, the Department of

Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Finland, built a Software Factory

laboratory (SWF) in 2012 based on Lean concept.

Industry need

Software factory What’s in it

University and researchers Student Entrepreneur or Company

- Access to research subjects in industry-like environment

- Technologically novel research environment

- Opportunities for cross-disciplinary research

- Opportunities for collaboration with other researchers in the factory network

- Funding opportunities via collaboration in joint research initiatives (FP7, ITEA, Artemis)

- Erasmus exchange

- Work with the modern technologies and development methods

- Experiment, innovate and try new things

- Work with the industry, with their challenges and in industry-like environment

- Contacts with the industry and opportunities for employment

- Erasmus exchange

- Pilot new technologies and methods in the safe and controlled environment

- Many ways to participate - Modern cloud-based tools and

environments - Full transparency and visibility

for the development process and tools

- Access to the whole factory network and experiences of it

- Collaboration opportunities with other industry participants

Software factory

New methods and tools to use

Apply new concept to solve problem in their own way

Prepare for the challenging position in industry

Project Course

Research Problem

To examines factors in software factory learning environment which affect learning of student in

software factory project course.

Theoretical

Framework

Computer laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI)

Attitude towards Computers and Computing Courses Questionnaire instrument

(ACCC)

Additional constructs:

Kanban board

Collaborative learning

Computer laboratory Environment Inventory Description

of CLEI

Constructs Description Sample item

Student

Cohesion

Extent to which students know, help, and

are supportive of each other

I get on well with students in this

laboratory class

Open-

Endedness

Extent to which the laboratory activities

encourage an open-ended, divergent

approach to use of computers

There is opportunity for me to pursue

my own computing interests in this

laboratory class

Integration

Extent to which the laboratory activities

are integrated with non- laboratory and

theory classes

The laboratory work is unrelated to the

topics that I am studying in my lecture

Technology

Adequacy

Extent to which the hardware and

software are adequate for the tasks

required

The computers are suitable for running

the software I am required to use

Attitude towards Computers and Computing

Courses Questionnaire instrument

Description of

ACCC

Constructs Description Sample item

Anxiety Extent to which the student feels

comfortable using a computer

Working with a computer

makes me very nervous.

Enjoyment Extent to which the student

enjoys working on a computer I enjoy learning on a computer.

Usefulness of

course

Extent to which the student

found the course useful

I do not think I will use what I

learned in this class.

Kanban and

Collaborative

learning

Kanban execute Lean thinking in practice;

however Lean is more than Kanban.

Kanban Principles

Visualize the workflow

Limit work in progress

Manage flow

Make process policies explicit

Improve collaboratively (using models and the scientific method)

Collaborative learning is an instructional approach in which a small number of learners interact together

and share their knowledge and skills in order to reach a specific learning goal.

Research method

Quantitative research approach

Web survey

Question were based on the mentioned research instrument

The measurement was based on five-point Likert-type scale

Survey population: Masters degree final year students who participate in

software factory project course (7 projects).

Discussion Results

The general findings indicate that software

factory environment, collaborative learning

and Kanban board play important role in

software engineering students learning,

academic achievements and professional skills

gaining.

The findings are helpful to develop a better

understanding about learning environments.

The information gathered in this study can

also be used to improve the software

engineering learning environment.

Constructs Mean α

Student Cohesion 4.85 0.895

Usefulness of course 3.74 0.996

Open-Endedness 3.66 0.870

Collaborative learning 3.67 0.887

Enjoyment 3.64 0.861

Kanban board 3.59 0.868

Integration 3.52 0.582

Technology Adequacy 3.46 0.968

Anxiety 2.16 0.759

Competencies gained

Effective task management

Solving complex problems

Sharing responsibilities

Developing a shared

Building a positive relationships

Negotiating with other groups

Use of rational argument to persuade others

Resolving conflict

Interesting Findings

In software factory Students

Feels more confident and supportive of each other while solving problems in different ways.

Have opportunity to work with a real customer on a real industrial project

Make a bridge between theoretical knowledge of software engineering and practical software

development and management work

Kanban board helps in visualizing and prioritizing an entire work project more efficiently.

One student reported in the open-ended question that

I believe Kanban board helps me to follow my project procedure when I am lost.

Students believed that the knowledge obtained in the Software factory project course would help

them in a future job.

Future work Conclusion

Research focused mainly on obtaining a general perception of master’s degree student

learning in project course at software factory environment.

Factors affecting student learning were explored relying on the well-known CLEI, ACCC,

collaborative learning and Kanban.

However, the actual strength of the factors affecting the student learning in SWF was

not measured.

For future work larger sample sizes are required.

A network has already built with some European software factories and its expansion

is ongoing to other software factories.

Thank you

Muhammad Ovais Ahmad

Doctoral Candidate

Department of Information Processing Science

E-mail: muhammad.ahmad@oulu.fi

Thank you

Thank you

Ahmad Muhammad Ovais, Kari Liukkunen, Jouni Markkula

(2014) Student perceptions and attitudes towards the

software factory as a learning environment. IEEE Global

Engineering Education Conference, 3-5 April 2014, Istanbul,

Turkey

References