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

The work-reflection-learning cycle in SE student projects: Use of collaboration tools
The following four research questions were formulated (Table 1):
Table 1: Research questions for the PhD thesis
RQ1: What characterizes software engineering student projects?
RQ2: What is the current usage of lightweight collaboration tools to support work in
software engineering student projects?
RQ3: How can retrospective reflection be supported in software engineering student
projects?
RQ4: How can collaboration tools that are used in daily project work be utilized as
tools for project based learning?
1.3 Research design
Case studies of SE projects with a focus on the as-is situation were appropriate for
unveiling current challenges in the projects in line with RQ1 and RQ2 and guide the
selection of issues to be explored more deeply in the thesis. Particularly in the case of
two longitudinal studies, the research was guided by the principles of interpretive field
studies (Klein and Myers 1999).
To explore the selected issue of retrospective reflection in accordance with RQ3 and
RQ4, the research was designed to include interventions to current practice, exploring
and evaluating approaches to retrospective reflection. This can be considered part of a
design research (Kelly et al. 2008b) process with the goal of improving the SE project
course in question as well as contributing with theoretical insights and practical
approaches in the area of project based learning more generally.
A SE project course at NTNU was a good candidate for the empirical research needed
to explore RQ1-4. The course is a capstone project course of an undergraduate IT study
program, and while the students in the projects are relative novices in the field of
Software Engineering, they have relatively advanced SE knowledge and skills. Further
adding to the realism of the projects as compared to professional SE work, the projects
have external customers for whom working software products are to be developed.
Being a researcher and some of the time course staff in various roles in the project
course, I had opportunities to get insights about the course organization and about
specific projects of interest. I had access to various project documentation and
opportunities for data collection across the teams in the course as well as the
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