International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2012), and a workshop Collaborative Teaching of Globally Distributed Software Development. Slides describing some of our experiences in a Distributed Software Development course. For more, check http://www.fer.hr/rasip/dsd/

1. Distributed Software Development Course:
Students’ and Teachers’ Perspectives
Ivana Bosnić
Juraj Feljan
Ivica Crnkovid
Marin Orlid
Mario Žagar
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Mälardalen University, Sweden

2. wordle.net

3. Students’ feedback
 initialquestionnaire
 periodic polling – “How happy am I?”
 final questionnaire
 course evaluation

4. 9 years
15 questions
255 students

5. In general...
Year 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 Average
Students # 21 52 44 26 11 28 36 15 22 28,33
Statement 1 4,71 4,58 4,32 4,08 4,36 4,14 4,67 4,53 4,23 4,40
Statement 2 4,48 4,29 4,02 3,88 4,27 4,11 4,19 4,18 4,09 4,17
1. As a whole the course was: 4,40
2. The course has fulfilled my expectations: 4,17

6. Speakers’ corner
 “What can be improved in the course?”
 >200 “useful” answers
 grouped in 8 categories

7. Technical
resources

8. Technical resources
 sound quality  lots of testing before
• additional backup plans
 server infrastructure  flexibility!
• more technical support

9. Knowledge
level

10. Knowledge level
 misbalance  problem!
• from poor basic... • cope with
• ..to highly specific heterogenity…
knowledge – of countries
• causes demotivation – and programs
• low English skills
 pre-course test  enrollment test
 warn students • can not reject anyone!
in advance • advising
• additional lectures

11. Project selection
& assignment

12. Project selection & asssignment
 more:  OK, but harder decision-making
• proposals • balance should be improved
• freedom • better process in last years
• skill balance • self-evaluation
• real customers • yes! (but it’s very complex!)

13. Lectures

14. Lectures
 diverse comments  can’t make everyone happy
• reduce lectures
AND
• have more lectures 
• more guest lectures! • ex students working on
industry DSD-projects now
• cultural differences lecture • we shall stick with that
– more or less? – differences not visible –
until problems arise

15. Course
organization

16. Course organization
 face-to-face contact  money, please 
 ice-breaking moments  introductory fun
 number of  2009. - too many students
• students • 56 students, 10 projects
• presentations • sorry!
 presentation time  strict time limit!
 too many  “hidden reason”
• deadlines
• questionnaires

17. Workload

18. Workload
 less demanding projects  7.5 – 8 ECTS
OR
 more time/ECTS 200 – 240 work hours
 challenging projects: OK  defining requirements
• advice: start small!

19. Course
advising

20. Course advising
 more support & advising:  should be better, but
• in the beginning • real-world needs
• whole team progress decision-makers
• individual advising • don’t “lead by the hand”
 having a supervisor
on each site

21. Grading

22. Grading
 more thorough  detailed grading system
• analysis of process • >20 criteria
• final product testing
 greater distinction  hard to know about
between students personal contributions
 better criteria explanation
 have intermediate grading

23. The two-perspective experience

24. Motivation for choosing the course

25. Work motivation

26. Communication

27. Perception of project work

28. Project requirements

29. Technical aspects

30. www.fer.hr/rasip/dsd