Evaluating the learning effectiveness of using simulations in software project management education: results from a twice replicated experiment
(2004) In Information and Software Technology 46(2). p.127-147- Abstract
- The increasing demand for software project managers in industry requires strategies for the development of management-related knowledge and skills of the current and future software workforce. Although several educational approaches help to develop the necessary skills in a university setting, few empirical studies are currently available to characterise and compare their effects. This paper presents the results of a twice replicated experiment that evaluates the learning effectiveness of using a process simulation model for educating computer science students in software project management. While the experimental group applied a System Dynamics simulation model, the control group used the well-known COCOMO model as a predictive tool for... (More)
- The increasing demand for software project managers in industry requires strategies for the development of management-related knowledge and skills of the current and future software workforce. Although several educational approaches help to develop the necessary skills in a university setting, few empirical studies are currently available to characterise and compare their effects. This paper presents the results of a twice replicated experiment that evaluates the learning effectiveness of using a process simulation model for educating computer science students in software project management. While the experimental group applied a System Dynamics simulation model, the control group used the well-known COCOMO model as a predictive tool for project planning. The results of each empirical study indicate that students using the simulation model gain a better understanding about typical behaviour patterns of software development projects. The combination of the results from the initial experiment and the two replications with meta-analysis techniques corroborates this finding. Additional analysis shows that the observed effect can mainly be attributed to the use of the simulation model in combination with a web-based role-play scenario. This finding is strongly supported by information gathered from the debriefing questionnaires of subjects in the experimental group. They consistently rated the simulation-based role-play scenario as a very useful approach for learning about issues in software project management. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1662695
- author
- Pfahl, Dietmar LU ; Laitenberger, Oliver ; Ruhe, Günther ; Dorsch, Jörg and Krivobokova, Tatyana
- publishing date
- 2004
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- learning effectiveness, cocomo, software project management education, system dynamics simulation, replicated experiment
- in
- Information and Software Technology
- volume
- 46
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 127 - 147
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:0346973020
- ISSN
- 0950-5849
- DOI
- 10.1016/S0950-5849(03)00115-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 29e0736f-6707-44d7-9ab7-74a50d33a95a (old id 1662695)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 09:40:32
- date last changed
- 2022-02-28 17:05:58
@article{29e0736f-6707-44d7-9ab7-74a50d33a95a,
abstract = {{The increasing demand for software project managers in industry requires strategies for the development of management-related knowledge and skills of the current and future software workforce. Although several educational approaches help to develop the necessary skills in a university setting, few empirical studies are currently available to characterise and compare their effects. This paper presents the results of a twice replicated experiment that evaluates the learning effectiveness of using a process simulation model for educating computer science students in software project management. While the experimental group applied a System Dynamics simulation model, the control group used the well-known COCOMO model as a predictive tool for project planning. The results of each empirical study indicate that students using the simulation model gain a better understanding about typical behaviour patterns of software development projects. The combination of the results from the initial experiment and the two replications with meta-analysis techniques corroborates this finding. Additional analysis shows that the observed effect can mainly be attributed to the use of the simulation model in combination with a web-based role-play scenario. This finding is strongly supported by information gathered from the debriefing questionnaires of subjects in the experimental group. They consistently rated the simulation-based role-play scenario as a very useful approach for learning about issues in software project management. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}},
author = {{Pfahl, Dietmar and Laitenberger, Oliver and Ruhe, Günther and Dorsch, Jörg and Krivobokova, Tatyana}},
issn = {{0950-5849}},
keywords = {{learning effectiveness; cocomo; software project management education; system dynamics simulation; replicated experiment}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{127--147}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Information and Software Technology}},
title = {{Evaluating the learning effectiveness of using simulations in software project management education: results from a twice replicated experiment}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0950-5849(03)00115-0}},
doi = {{10.1016/S0950-5849(03)00115-0}},
volume = {{46}},
year = {{2004}},
}