Problems and experiences with student projects based on real-world problems: a case study

Abstract

Involving students into real-world projects and real teamwork environment is of the great importance in software engineering education that is sometimes ignored in academic environments. The Bologna Process reforms gave the authors an opportunity for necessary changes in the teaching methodology. Although the real-world projects have generated the topics for degree theses at the authors’ department for years, the reform provoked the student projects to be comprehensively included in the university curriculum. This paper describes the implementation of the real-world projects within the undergraduate course Development of Software Applications and the authors’ four-year experience in teaching that course. The key issues regarding the selection and adaptation of real-world projects have been discussed for different types of student work as well. The organization and the improvements of the course through the years are presented together with course evaluation.