The work-reflection-learning cycle - Department of Computer and ...

the course staff may improve the course between semesters, and the success of the SE study
program may finally influence university decisions. The customer representative may learn
about technical issues whereas her department benefits from knowledge about the viability of
an idea after project completion.
2.2 Project stakeholders have different goals for their engagement in the projects
Students want formal qualifications making them attractive on the job market, which
includes knowledge and skill e.g. in project management and programming. The project
customer becomes part of the students’ network in the business world, perhaps leading
to a job offer. Students also want to enjoy the social aspects of project work.
The course staff seeks to improve the course. Such improvement partially rests on
evaluation of the projects as reflected in the grades. Learning objectives are formalized
in course descriptions. Students’ viewpoints on the projects (e.g. as found in reflection
notes) provide feedback on the pedagogical quality of the project course. Additionally,
the project course must meet relevant needs in the business world. If customers express
that their needs are met, it is an acknowledgement of the relevance of the project course
and courses on which the project is based. SE projects thus serve as a test bench for the
SE study program. The university-customer relationship further contributes in building
a business network for the university, to be utilized in new student or research projects.
2.3. Cross-community interaction as essential to project work and learning
Two important types of connections between communities are boundary objects and
brokering [9]. Boundary objects are “artifacts, documents, terms, concepts, and other
forms of reification around which communities of practice can organize their
interconnections.” [10-12]. The artifacts central to the SE project are important because
they support the goal attainment of one or more stakeholders. Reaching agreement on
the development of an artifact important to more than one community is a question of
making alignments based on the views, knowledge and practices of the communities.
An example from the SE world explicitly referring to negotiation in development work
is the WinWin methodology [13]. In SE student projects, there are artifacts to be
negotiated with the course staff, with the customer and with both of them. The
requirements specification is a particularly central artifact, negotiated between the
student team and the customer and subject to course staff’s supervision and evaluation.
For a boundary object to work well, communities should be able to use it in making
sense of their own activity as well as the activity of the other community. The boundary
object contributes to making visible stakeholders’ objectives, as well as possibly the
negotiation and development process, e.g. by documenting arguments, decisions and
versions. This corresponds to the boundary object being socially translucent [14],
providing awareness, accountability and visibility of the development process.
Brokering is “connections provided by people who can introduce elements of one
practice into another.” [9] (p.105). Students in a SE project can be considered brokers
between the university, the customer organization and the project team to the extent that
they are members of all communities and work to align the perspectives and practices
from each community in the project. In the capacity of being students, the developers
are participants in the teaching/learning practices of the university. Also, they are
participants in the task-oriented practice of the project team. Further, the students can
be seen as novice professionals engaging in legitimate peripheral participation [15] in
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