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A collaborative and experiential learning model powered by real-world projects

Author:

Mihaela SabinAuthors Info & Claims

SIGITE '08: Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education

Pages 157 - 164

https://doi.org/10.1145/1414558.1414600

Published: 16 October 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) curricula's strong application component and its focus on user centeredness and team work require that students experience directly real-world projects for real users of IT solutions. Although the merit of this IT educational tenet is universally recognized, delivering collaborative and experiential learning has its challenges.

Reaching out to identify projects formulated by actual organizations adds significantly to course preparation. There is a certain level of risk involved with delivering a useful solution while, at the same time, enough room should be allowed for students to experiment with, be wrong about, review, and learn. Challenges pertaining to the real-world aspect of problem-based learning are compounded by managing student teams and assessing their work such that both individual and collective contributions are taken into account. Finally, the quality of the project releases is not the only measure of student learning. Students should be given meaningful opportunities to practice, improve, and demonstrate their communication and interpersonal skills.

In this paper we present our experience with two courses in which teams of students worked on real-world projects involving three external partners. We describe how each of the challenges listed above has impacted the course requirements, class instruction, team dynamics, assessment, and learning in these courses. Course assessment and survey data from students are linked to learning outcomes and point to areas where the collaborative and experiential learning model needs improvement.

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Cited By

Timmerman KGoldweber MMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Department-wide Multi-semester Community Engaged Learning Initiative to Overcome Common Barriers to Service-Learning ImplementationProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499326(808-814)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499326
Mason SRobins AMoskal AKo AMcCauley RRobins AKo A(2020)Collaborative Learning in Computing EducationProceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3372782.3406254(136-146)Online publication date: 10-Aug-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3372782.3406254
Karus SBeecham SDamian D(2019)Experience report on a move to techniques-oriented student project gradingProceedings of the 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00023(138-146)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00023
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

A collaborative and experiential learning model powered by real-world projects
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
    1. Collaborative learning
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information systems education
      2. Model curricula

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SIGITE '08: Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education

October 2008

280 pages

ISBN:9781605583297

DOI:10.1145/1414558

General Chairs:
J. J. Ekstrom
Brigham Young University
,
Mark Stockman
University of Cincinnati

Copyright © 2008 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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SIGITE: ACM Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 16 October 2008

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SIGITE08

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SIGITE

SIGITE08: ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference

October 16 - 18, 2008

OH, Cincinnati, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 176 of 429 submissions, 41%

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Cited By

Timmerman KGoldweber MMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)Department-wide Multi-semester Community Engaged Learning Initiative to Overcome Common Barriers to Service-Learning ImplementationProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499326(808-814)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499326
Mason SRobins AMoskal AKo AMcCauley RRobins AKo A(2020)Collaborative Learning in Computing EducationProceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3372782.3406254(136-146)Online publication date: 10-Aug-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3372782.3406254
Karus SBeecham SDamian D(2019)Experience report on a move to techniques-oriented student project gradingProceedings of the 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00023(138-146)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00023
Olson BGibbons TAyers TZilora SGoda BBogaard D(2018)Applying an Agile Approach to Improve the Student Experience and Performance in a Capstone ProjectProceedings of the 19th Annual SIG Conference on Information Technology Education10.1145/3241815.3241828(87-87)Online publication date: 14-Sep-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3241815.3241828
Zhang MHu CAmu G(2013)Real-world problem solving in entry-level programming courses: A case study on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2013.6684845(343-348)Online publication date: Oct-2013
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2013.6684845
Armstrong AWellington C(2012)Using professionalism to improve student outcomes in a computer science senior capstone courseJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/2379703.237972028:1(103-110)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2379703.2379720
Armstrong AWellington C(2012)Work in progressProceedings of the 2012 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2012.6462460(1-3)Online publication date: 3-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/FIE.2012.6462460
Jacobs SKussmaul CSabin MGoda BSobiesk EConnolly R(2011)Free and open source software in computing educationProceedings of the 2011 conference on Information technology education10.1145/2047594.2047606(41-42)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2047594.2047606
Murray M(2011)Work in progress -- Creating a professional software development environment to support capstone programming projectsProceedings of the 2011 Frontiers in Education Conference10.1109/FIE.2011.6143100(S4F-1-1-S4F-3)Online publication date: 12-Oct-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/FIE.2011.6143100
Wu HWiner CStinson MCregger NBaker KFriedman R(2010)Teaching a fundamental programming course via a Chinese/American faculty exchange agreementProceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Information technology education10.1145/1867651.1867696(159-162)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1867651.1867696
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