Teaching software engineering by means of computer-game development: Challenges and opportunities
Date
2007
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
British Journal of Educational Technology
Abstract
Software-engineering education programs are intended to prepare students for
a field that involves rapidly changing conditions and expectations. Thus, there
is always a danger that the skills and the knowledge provided may soon become
obsolete. This paper describes results and draws on experiences from the imple mentation of a computer game-development course whose design addresses
problems in software-engineering education by improving students’ abilities in
four areas: (1) problem solving; (2) the application of previously learned
knowledge; (3) the use of independent learning; and (4) learning by doing. In
order to better understand this course’s effect on students’ performance in a
software-development project, I investigated 125 students’ performance in a
1-year senior-project course. Results of this study show that the students who
had taken the computer game-development course became more successful in
the senior-project course than the students who had not taken it.
Description
Keywords
software