research-article

Software Theater—Teaching Demo-Oriented Prototyping

Authors:

Stephan Krusche,

Bernd BrueggeAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), Volume 18, Issue 2

Article No.: 10, Pages 1 - 30

https://doi.org/10.1145/3145454

Published: 11 July 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Modern capstone courses use agile methods to deliver and demonstrate software early in the project. However, a simple demonstration of functional and static aspects does not provide real-world software usage context, although this is integral to understand software requirements. Software engineering involves capabilities such as creativity, imagination, and interaction, which are typically not emphasized in software engineering courses. A more engaging, dynamic way of presenting software prototypes is needed to demonstrate the context in which the software is used. We combine agile methods, scenario-based design, and theatrical aspects into software theater, an approach to present visionary scenarios using techniques borrowed from theater and film, including props and humor.

We describe the software theater workflow, provide examples, and explain patterns to demonstrate its potential. We illustrate two large case studies in which we teach students with varying levels of experience to apply software theater: a capstone course involving industrial customers with 100 students and an interactive lecture-based course with 400 students. We empirically evaluated the use of software theater in both courses. Our evaluations show that students can understand and apply software theater within one semester and that this technique increases their motivation to prepare demonstrations even early in the project. Software theater is more creative, memorable, dynamic, and engaging than normal demonstration techniques and brings fun into education.

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Cited By

Beneken GHummel FKucich MBeneken GHummel FKucich M(2023)Effektive PräsentationenGrundkurs agiles Software-Engineering10.1007/978-3-658-37371-9_9(301-317)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37371-9_9
Kang JRoestel NGirouard A(2022)Experiential Learning to Teach User Experience in Higher Education in Past 20 Years: A Scoping ReviewFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8129074Online publication date: 3-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2022.812907
Groeneveld WBecker BVennekens JMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)How Creatively Are We Teaching and Assessing Creativity in Computing EducationProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499360(934-940)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499360
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Index Terms

Software Theater—Teaching Demo-Oriented Prototyping
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Information technology education
        Software engineering education
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software development process management
      1. Software development methods
        Agile software development
        Rapid application development
    2. Software development techniques
      1. Object oriented development
      2. Software prototyping

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education

ACM Transactions on Computing Education Volume 18, Issue 2

Special Issue on Capstone Projects

June 2018

116 pages

EISSN:1946-6226

DOI:10.1145/3239167

Editor:
Chris Hundhausen
Washington State University, USA

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 11 July 2018

Accepted: 01 August 2017

Received: 01 April 2017

Published in TOCE Volume 18, Issue 2

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Cited By

Beneken GHummel FKucich MBeneken GHummel FKucich M(2023)Effektive PräsentationenGrundkurs agiles Software-Engineering10.1007/978-3-658-37371-9_9(301-317)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37371-9_9
Kang JRoestel NGirouard A(2022)Experiential Learning to Teach User Experience in Higher Education in Past 20 Years: A Scoping ReviewFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8129074Online publication date: 3-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2022.812907
Groeneveld WBecker BVennekens JMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)How Creatively Are We Teaching and Assessing Creativity in Computing EducationProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499360(934-940)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499360
Wang RMilusheva SKrusche S(2022)Balancing between Creativity and Efficiency in Software Engineering Project Courses2022 29th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC)10.1109/APSEC57359.2022.00075(537-546)Online publication date: Dec-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/APSEC57359.2022.00075
Sidorenko GMostowski WVinel ASjöberg JCooney M(2021)The CAR Approach: Creative Applied Research Experiences for Master’s Students in Autonomous Platooning2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515560(214-221)Online publication date: 8-Aug-2021
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Higuera Martínez OFernández-Samacá LSerrano Cárdenas L(2021)Trends and opportunities by fostering creativity in science and engineering: a systematic reviewEuropean Journal of Engineering Education10.1080/03043797.2021.1974350(1-24)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2021
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Cico OJaccheri LNguyen-Duc AZhang H(2021)Exploring the intersection between software industry and Software Engineering education - A systematic mapping of Software Engineering TrendsJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2020.110736172(110736)Online publication date: Feb-2021
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Iivari NKinnula MKuure LKeisanen TBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)"Arseing around was Fun!" Humor as a Resource in Design and MakingProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376169(1-13)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
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Kokensparger B(2019)When the play is "the thing" and not the softwareJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3344013.334401834:4(52-59)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2019
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