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Socially Distant Active Learning and Student Engagement in Software Engineering Courses

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Software Engineering Division Technical Session 1

Page Count

23

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40579

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40579

Download Count

353

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Paper Authors

biography

Bruce Maxim University of Michigan - Dearborn

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Bruce Maxim has worked as a software engineer, project manager, professor, author, and consultant for more than 40 years. His research interests include software engineering, user experience design, game development, AR/VR/XR, social media, artificial intelligence, and software engineering education. Bruce Maxim is professor of computer and information science and collegiate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan – Dearborn. He established the GAME Lab in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He has published more than 90 papers on computer algorithm animation, game development, software engineering practice, and engineering education. His professional experience includes managing research information systems at a medical school, directing instructional computing for a medical campus, working as a statistical programmer, and serving as the chief technology officer for a game development company. He is co-author of Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach.

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Thomas Limbaugh University of Michigan - Dearborn

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Jeffrey Yackley University of Michigan - Dearborn

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Jeff Yackley is an all but dissertation doctoral candidate in Computer and Information Science at the University of Michigan - Dearborn graduating in April 2022. His research focuses on search-based software engineering and applied artificial intelligence in the areas of software architecture, software refactoring, and software quality. In addition, he also maintains an active research track in computer science education where he focuses on active learning in the CS classroom. Jeff's research and teaching is informed from his time in industry where he worked at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as a software architecture researcher, Compuware Corporation as a mainframe systems and applications software developer, and Visteon Corporation as an automotive embedded software engineer.

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Abstract

Often, activities developed for face-to-face delivery of software engineering topics cannot be used without modification in the online delivery of course materials. Following Covid protocols in face-to-face classes also requires modification of active learning course materials. This paper describes the authors’ experiences during the past three years using active learning materials in a face-to-face software engineering course with and without social distancing. As well as their experiences teaching both synchronous and asynchronous online versions of the same course. The project team critically examined existing active learning materials used for face-to-face delivery of the course and adapted them for use in online and socially distanced face-to-face course delivery during Fall 2021. The authors monitored the levels of student engagement in each group and surveyed individual students to measure their perceived levels of engagement with course activities. Our assessment data suggests that students attending face-to-face class meetings (with or without social distancing) felt more engaged with the active learning course materials than those taking the class online. Students interacting with the active learning course materials, whether face-to-face or though Zoom breakout rooms, felt more engaged with the course materials than they would have in a traditional online lecture course. Students receiving in-person instruction tended to have fewer missing assignments and provided higher course evaluations than students completing the course activities online.

Maxim, B., & Limbaugh, T., & Yackley, J. (2022, August), Socially Distant Active Learning and Student Engagement in Software Engineering Courses Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40579

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