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

DO‟S AND DON‟TS OF INSTANT MESSAGING IN STUDENTS‟
PROJECT WORK
Birgit Krogstie, IDI, NTNU, birgitkr@idi.ntnu.no
Abstract
Instant messaging is a type of lightweight collaboration technology heavily used among students in
higher education for social interaction and for school work. This paper sheds light on students’ use of
instant messaging to support collaboration in software engineering student projects. We draw on several
years’ of research on the use of collaboration technology in such projects and present illustrative
examples of how instant messaging is used within the teams and for communication with other
stakeholders, e.g. project supervisor and customer. We find that the use of instant messaging in the
projects is generally successful, but in some cases it is inadequate, which may severely harm the project
outcome. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for the organization and supervision of SE
student projects.
Keywords: instant messaging, synchronous chat, student projects, software engineering student projects.
1 INTRODUCTION
“But in the case I have a technical question, and want to ask somebody in the group, I
first look at MSN.” (Member of a student software engineering project team)
Observing software engineering (SE) students in a project meeting or in the computer lab, you might
notice chat windows frequently popping up on the laptop and terminal screens. Different actions are taken
by the students in response to the pop-ups. Some windows are ignored (at least for the present), some are
discreetly attended to with a brief textual exchange, and some (if the ongoing activity in the room allows
it) appear to call for the immediate attention of the neighbour or all the students in the room. Some
messages appear to be project or otherwise school related, others belong to the private sphere in which a
social network appears to be incessantly maintained mainly through this channel.
What is going on, is instant messaging. Instant messaging tools are easily available, lightweight
collaboration tools that provide the user with the opportunity to communicate with one or more contacts
through textual chat. This channel of communication is constantly open and present in the students‟ work
environment; mostly in the background and sometimes in the foreground. From the viewpoint of course
staff in a project course, it is highly interesting to know whether, and in what way, the use of instant
messaging is supporting, or perhaps getting in the way of, the intended learning.
SE student projects is a case of project-based learning (Blumenfeld, Soloway et al. 1991). This
pedagogical approach is based on student projects that are central to the curriculum, focused on questions
or problems that “drive” students to encounter the central concepts and principles of a discipline,
involving students in a constructive investigation, student-driven to a significant degree, and realistic, not
school-like (Thomas 2000). Through SE student projects, students are being exposed to challenges of SE
work while receiving necessary guidance and support (Bygstad, Krogstie et al. 2006; Bygstad, Krogstie et
al. 2009). Figure 1 shows a SE student team in various settings of everyday work.
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