Experiences with CCB-directed projects in the classroom

Abstract

Success in a software effort often depends upon communication skills of the developers, whether reading and writing specifications, or cooperating with one another to solve problems. Unfortunately, most undergraduate education places emphasis upon individual achievement that does not challenge students to refine necessary communication skills; and even when teams are formed, communication among participants is rarely organized. This paper describes our experience with a classroom approach to organizing communication activities in software engineering education. A single class project of large scale is initiated, with each team in the class assuming responsibility for a distinct task. During the project, responsibilities are rotated, so that students must operate on software artifacts that they themselves did not write. Central to the success of this approach is that technical decisions are coordinated by a configuration control board (CCB), run by the class.