LAP Lambert Academic Publishing Software Engineering Education: Towards Understanding and Improving the Process of Small Group Collaborative Learning

Educating software engineers is fundamentally based on problem solving through which students assimilate and apply knowledge and skills to problems of varying complexity, size and from diverse domains. The level of understanding of the underpinning theory and acquired skills need to be ascertained through assessment. Traditional unseen examinations have long ceased to be recognized as the sole method of assessment. The research aim of this book is to understand and improve the process of small group collaborative learning in software engineering education. The portfolio of work supporting this research specifically deals with a number of background studies leading to the development of appropriate pedagogical approach for understanding and analyzing small group collaborative learning online, offline and distance education. This research shows thorough understanding of the type of learning interaction that was taking place with software engineering students in terms of their cognitive engagement or higher-order critical thinking. Furthermore, it provides usable assessment results with minimal staff effort that are as accurate as other more expensive methods.