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

The work-reflection-learning cycle in SE student projects: Use of collaboration tools
important role in the version of the reflection workshop which is aided by historical data
in a computerized collaboration tool (P7-P8).
For practitioners within SE education and PBL more generally, knowledge about the
typical and recommended use of collaboration tools in student projects is an aid to
understanding the challenges of specific projects and project courses. This
understanding is essential for course staff seeking to provide project students with the
appropriate scaffolding for learning. While recognizing the skills with which students
currently handle a variety of collaboration tools for work and social purposes, course
staff can make some recommendations and help the students be more conscious of their
tool use in different collaborative settings. The research on lightweight collaboration
tool use in student projects presented in the thesis can also serve as a basis for the
identification of issues for educational practitioners‟ own pedagogical research and
development of practice (e.g. addressing the role of a particular collaboration tool in
student projects or how a particular aspect of project work is supported by the use of
collaboration tools). The research methods as well as the results presented in the thesis
can inform this type of research.
For the organization of small scale SE project work in educational and other settings,
the findings on how a project wiki may support project management (P5) can aid the
decision of whether, and how, to use a project wiki as a lightweight project management
tool in a specific project. These findings can also be useful to project teams who are
already using project wikis and who may benefit from utilizing the tool in different
ways. The thesis research on issue trackers (P7 and P8) can inform considerations on
the choice of lightweight project management tool for a project and the comparison of
project wikis and issue trackers based on their qualities for day-to-day work and
retrospective reflection.
The thesis contribution on the use of project wikis and their potential integrative role in
small-scale projects adds to the knowledge within CSCW on tool support for project
work as well as the usage of wiki technology. For organizers of small-scale projects
the contribution can inform decisions about whether and how to make use of wiki
technology for lightweight project management.
For the TEL research field, the contribution adds to the body of literature on the use of
collaboration tools (e.g. wikis) in educational settings, offering a perspective that views
the tools primarily as aids to daily work practice (i.e. as tools for work rather than
learning technology) and indirectly supporting learning in the context of PBL.
Further, for the research communities in which the research papers have been published,
the thesis provides concrete examples of how daily work and tool use in a team can be
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