Do students recognize ambiguity in software design? a multi-national, multi-institutional report

Successful software engineering requires experience and acknowledgment of complexity, including that which leads designers to recognize ambiguity within the software design description itself. We report on a study of 21 post-secondary institutions from the USA, UK, Sweden, and New Zealand. First competency and graduating students as well as educators were asked to perform a software design task. We found that as students go from first competency to graduating seniors they tend to recognize ambiguities in under-specified problems. Additionally, participants who recognized ambiguity addressed more requirements of the design. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.2 [Computer and Information Science Education]: Computer Science Education General Terms Design Keywords requirements, ambiguity, software design

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ICSE
• Authors: Ken Blaha, Alvaro E. Monge, Dean Sanders, Beth Simon, Tammy VanDeGrift
• Keywords: Design Keywords Requirements, ICSE 2005, Software Design Description, Software Design Task, Software Engineering