Description of the course
The course is the 4th in a series os 5 courses required in the Graduation in Computer Engineering program. In this series of courses, students itertively learn and practice software development process techniques and best practices. The course aims at strengthening student ability to integrate large software development teams in on-going software projects. Upon completion of the course, students are able to identify practices for teamwork and team dynamics and apply them in developing a software project in a team, explain essential oral communication best practices and apply them to present planning and designing in the context of a software project, correctly organize a bibliography in accordance with the stipulated norms and respective citations and references, elicit and interpret software requirements, design and implement new features in a software solution, select and apply sound principles for the operation, evolution, and deployment of a software system, and operate complex technical activities in a large team and large software project, taking responsibility for decision making. The course follows a fundamental problem-based learning approach, which is supported through the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Description of the participants
The course is part of the 2nd year of studies in the Graduation in Computer Engineering program, branch of Graphical Systems. The ICT-INOV methodology was deployed in the 2022 – 2023 academic year. A total of 72 students were involved in the process. ICT-INOV will be further deployed in the following academic years, reaching additional groups of students.
Description of gamified design thinking activities
A learning activity was developed based on design thinking. The activity was directly in line with course objectives, which are to integrate emerging pedagogies with state of the art ICT for better addressing specific educational goals in broad learning contexts.
On the first part of the activity students discussed in the class potential problems. They analysed different challenges and selected one to be the focus of their project. They further brainstormed on potential solutions. Subsequently, students were divided in groups. Each group proposed a programmatic solution. and each group proposed a programmatic solution. The ICT-INOV digital learning platform supported instructors in the structuring learning activities, providing the desirable flexibility. The activity was structured as follows:
Step 1: Problem identification.
Students engaged in research towards identifying challenges. They engaged in discussion within their team to determine whether the given problem could be solved through a software implementation and whether their team collectively offered the required knowledge for achieving the project technical goals.
Step 2: Selecting and understanding the problem.
Students selected a problem using the information gathered in the previous step. They discussed and brainstormed potential solutions using the ICT-INOV digital learning platform.
Step 3: Forming groups.
Students were divided into teams of 5 or 6 individuals. Teams assigned roles to each member.
Step 4: Prototyping and testing.
Students were challenged to solve the problem through software coding, posting their solution on the ICT-INOV digital learning platform. They presented their solutions for the benefit of their fellow students.
