Learning Conceptual Modeling Design Through the Classutopia Serious Game

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (11n12) ◽  
pp. 1679-1699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Marín ◽  
Felipe Larenas ◽  
Giovanni Giachetti
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Conceptual Modeling ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Class Diagram ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Class Diagrams

One of the more complex topics to teach to Software Engineering students is the conceptual modeling design, which has several concepts that students must learn in order to specify the structural, behavioral and interaction views of software systems. Learning the design of class diagrams is of paramount importance since these diagrams are used to guide concrete development tasks such as programming and testing, and, consequently, to avoid defective software products. Applying novel teaching/learning techniques in this topic may help students to reduce the defects that are committed at the moment of designing a class diagram. One interesting technique is the use of serious games, since they provide learning environments free of risks and pressure for students, allowing the students to know the topics that they must learn in a funny way. Serious games have been widely used in programming courses. We aim to investigate the feasibility to replicate this experience for conceptual modeling of class diagrams at Software Engineering courses. In this paper, we present a role-playing game especially focused on the class diagram, which is called Classutopia. This serious game provides modeling challenges, comprehension and correction of diagrams with different complexity levels for learning conceptual modeling design.

Balancing Fun and Learning in a Serious Game Design

Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 452-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Franzwa ◽  
Ying Tang ◽  
Aaron Johnson ◽  
Talbot Bielefeldt
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Guidance System ◽  
Stem Fields ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Design Challenges ◽  
Narrative Learning

This article presents the underlying philosophy of Sustain City, an educational serious game system that engages students, particularly prospective and beginning science and engineering students, in a series of engineering design challenges. Various strategies implemented in Sustain City for achieving a balance of fun and learning are discussed, including narrative-learning synthesis, supplementing the player's actions with feedback, and the development of a sufficient guidance system. The evaluation of Sustain City deployment is also presented. The assessment confirms the values of the serious games in promoting students' interests and learning in STEM fields.

Obstacles for the Integration of HCI Practices into Software Engineering Development Processes

2006 ◽  
pp. 422-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Ferre ◽  
Natalia Juristo ◽  
Ana M. Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Computer Literacy ◽  
Software Process ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Market ◽  
Visible Part ◽  
Software Product ◽  
Development Processes

Usability has become a critical quality factor in software systems, and it has been receiving increasing attention over the last few years in the SE (software engineering) field. HCI techniques aim to increase the usability level of the final software product, but they are applied sparingly in mainstream software development, because there is very little knowledge about their existence and about how they can contribute to the activities already performed in the development process. There is a perception in the software development community that these usability-related techniques are to be applied only for the development of the visible part of the UI (user interface) after the most important part of the software system (the internals) has been designed and implemented. Nevertheless, the different paths taken by HCI and SE regarding software development have recently started to converge. First, we have noted that HCI methods are being described more formally in the direction of SE software process descriptions. Second, usability is becoming an important issue on the SE agenda, since the software products user base is ever increasing and the degree of user computer literacy is decreasing, leading to a greater demand for usability improvements in the software market. However, the convergence of HCI and SE has uncovered the need for an integration of the practices of both disciplines. This integration is a must for the development of highly usable systems. In the next two sections, we will look at how the SE field has viewed usability. Following upon this, we address the existing approaches to integration. We will then detail the pending issues that stand in the way of successful integration efforts, concluding with the presentation of an approach that might be successful in the integration endeavor.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Tools and Slicing Techniques for Efficient Verification of UML/OCL Class Diagrams

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asadullah Shaikh ◽  
Uffe Kock Wiil ◽  
Nasrullah Memon
Keyword(s):  
Code Generation ◽  
Verification And Validation ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Class Diagram ◽  
Complex Class ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Class Diagrams ◽  
Verification Process ◽  
High Level ◽  
Efficient Verification

UML/OCL class diagrams provide high-level descriptions of software systems. Currently, UML/OCL class diagrams are highly used for code generation through several transformations in order to save time and effort of software developers. Therefore, verification of these class diagrams is essential in order to generate accurate transformations. Verification of UML/OCL class diagrams is a quite challenging task when the input is large (i.e., a complex UML/OCL class diagram). In this paper, we present (1) a benchmark for UML/OCL verification and validation tools, (2) an evaluation and analysis of tools available for verification and validation of UML/OCL class diagrams including the range of UML support for each tool, (3) the problems with efficiency of the verification process for UML/OCL class diagrams, and (4) solution for efficient verification of complex class diagrams.

scholarly journals Reuse Alternatives based on the Sources of Software Assets

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas AL-Badareen
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Software Reuse ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Engineering Discipline

    Abstract— Since the idea of software reuse appeared in 1968, software reuse has become a software engineering discipline. Software reuse is one of the main techniques used to enhance the productivity of software development, which it helps reducing the time, effort, and cost of developing software systems, and enhances the quality of software products. However, software reuse requires understanding, modifying, adapting and testing processes in order to be performed correctly and efficiently. This study aims to analyze and discuss the process of software reuse, identify its elements, sources and usages. The alternatives of acquiring and using software assets either normal or reusable assets are discussed. As a result of this study, four main methods are proposed in order to use the concept of reuse in the software development process. These methods are proposed based on the source of software assets regardless the types of software assets and their usages.

scholarly journals MetricRA: Learning Software Metrics through Augmented Reality

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Motta ◽  
Mario Bonicenha ◽  
Claudia Susie Rodrigues ◽  
Cláudia Werner
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Real World ◽  
Software Metrics ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Class Diagram ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Augmented Reality Technology ◽  
Learning Software

Augmented reality creates a bridge between virtual and real world, providing stimulating resources for different purposes. This technology enables new teaching possibilities since it can bring more abstract concepts into reality and put the knowledge related to several areas, such as Software Engineering, into practice. MetricRA is a tool developed to help Software Engineering students to understand Cohesion and Coupling metrics. The solution was implemented with Augmented Reality technology, where the user can control a class diagram to observe the metrics transformation. This article describes MetricRA tool and presents a study conducted to evaluate its ability to contribute to the understanding of the concepts proposed.

Guide to teach Lean Startup methodology to software engineering students using a serious game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nephtali Ceballos Flores ◽  
Mirna Ariadna Munoz ◽  
Jose G. Hernandez Reveles
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Lean Startup

Analyzing the Cognitive Difficulties for Developing and Using UML Class Diagrams for Domain Understanding

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palash Bera
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Conceptual Modeling ◽  
Modeling Technique ◽  
Class Diagram ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Cognitive Difficulties ◽  
Uml Class Diagram ◽  
Class Diagrams

Developing and using conceptual models require modelers’ cognitive efforts. To identify and analyze the cognitive difficulties of modelers in developing and using conceptual models, two laboratory studies were conducted using UML class diagram as a conceptual modeling technique. In the first study, two groups of modelers were trained to develop UML class diagrams, with only one group being trained to develop the diagrams using ontological rules. All these diagrams were then provided to a different set of modelers who used them to answer domain understanding tasks. It was found that modelers who used the ontological rules had less difficulty in developing the diagrams than those who didn’t. Similarly, modelers who used the diagrams developed by the group trained with rules had less difficulty in performing problem solving tasks than the modelers who used the diagrams developed by the group without training. It was observed that the cognitive difficulties of the modelers of the first study were transferred to the modelers in the second study.

MEASUREMENT SUPPORT IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENTS

1994 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTOPHER M. LOTT
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Maturity Model ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Capability Maturity ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Automated Support ◽  
Guidelines And Standards

The use of empirical data to understand and improve software products and software engineering processes is gaining ever increasing attention. Empirical data from products and processes is needed to help an organization understand and improve its way of doing business in the software domain. Additional motivation for collecting and using data is provided by the need to conform to guidelines and standards which mandate measurement, specifically the SEI’s Capability Maturity Model and ISO 9000–3. Some software engineering environments (SEEs) offer automated support for collecting and, in a few cases, using empirical data. Measurement will clearly play a significant role in future SEEs. The paper surveys the trend towards supporting measurement in SEEs and gives details about several existing research and commercial software systems.

Balancing Fun and Learning in a Serious Game Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Franzwa ◽  
Ying Tang ◽  
Aaron Johnson ◽  
Talbot Bielefeldt
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Guidance System ◽  
Stem Fields ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Design Challenges ◽  
Narrative Learning

This article presents the underlying philosophy of Sustain City, an educational serious game system that engages students, particularly prospective and beginning science and engineering students, in a series of engineering design challenges. Various strategies implemented in Sustain City for achieving a balance of fun and learning are discussed, including narrative-learning synthesis, supplementing the player's actions with feedback, and the development of a sufficient guidance system. The evaluation of Sustain City deployment is also presented. The assessment confirms the values of the serious games in promoting students' interests and learning in STEM fields.

DEVELOPING ESP TEACHING MATERIALS FOR THE STUDENTS OFTHE SOFTWAREENGINEERINGBASED ON PROBLEM BASED LEARNING AT THE AL-WASHLIYAHTELADAN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

TABULARASA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodiani Fatmah Hasibuan ◽  
Busmin Gurning ◽  
Eddy Setia
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Vocational School ◽  
Vocational High School ◽  
School Grade ◽  
English Reading ◽  
High School Grade ◽  
Reading Materials

This study dealt with the development of English Reading Materials of vocational school, Al-WashliyahTeladan Medan, majoring Software Engineering. The objectives of this study were to: 1) find out language skill and materials are needed by the students of Software Engineering, 2) develop the English materials for the majoring in software engineering students at the vocational high school grade XII. This study was conducted by Educational Research and Development R&D (Borg & Gall, 1989). The data of this research were from existing documents and the result of interview with teacher and student. The results of the research conveyed that the existing reading materials were mostly irrelevant because the title and content of the material was not appropriate and was not required for the students majoring in software engineering. The new English reading materials and syllabus were developed based on the students need related to the workplace. The materials and syllabus were developed from the existing materials from teacher. The developing materials were validated by two experts.

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