Abstract

Computing Science graduates need a global perspective of the software engineering industry to make them more employable. As well as gaining the technical and academic skill levels expected from their discipline, students must now learn to operate in ‘virtual teams’. This paper describes how we changed the curriculum of our Software Engineering Module at Newcastle University to incorporate problem-based learning and distributed team working in collaboration with Durham University as part of the ALiC project, (Active Learning in Computing), a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The module involves working with our industrial contacts to ensure realism and has received positive feedback. The paper describes the assignments, assessments and collaboration technologies we used during the module and details tutor and student experiences and the lessons learned.

Keywords

Collaboration Technologies, Employability, Problem-based Learning, Virtual Teams