An Experience on Software
Engineering Education Using
Simulation Games
Daniela Cristina Cascini Kupsch
About me
• Education:
– Professor at Federal Center for Technological Education
• Bachelor in Computer Engineering
– PhD in Computer Science 2012 – UFMG/Vrije University
– MBA in Project Management (Dom Cabral Foundation)
– MSc in Computer Science - UFMG
• Relevant Positions – Software Engineering:
– Quality manager/Process manager – 7 years
– Project manager – 2 years
Belo Horizonte
Context
The Software Engineering discipline adopts
team-based projects 4 to 6 members per team:
•Complete specification of a small software
application.
• They follow the Praxis process that
prescribes the use of UML for the models
and Java as the programming language,
using test-driven techniques.
Solution Defects Distribution
Minor
20%
Critical
51%
Major
29%
•20% of the teams (3 of 15):
• did not deliver the source code
• did not provide a code that compiled or executed correctly.
• did not deliver the test artifacts.
Context
Lack of motivation
Forgetfulness
Lack of attention
Lack of theoretical knowledge
Lack of training/experience
Time restriction
0%
20%
40%
60%
% of responses
80%
How much did you learn about the process
during the team project development?
Context
Considerable changes in educational
processes are expected with the use of new
pedagogic and educational technologies
Simulation Games
• Simulation games are gaining increasing
attention
• Students can practice activities that are
infeasible to practice during an academic course.
• It reduces the risks of failure and the high costs
of an actual practice.
Research Questions
• RQ 1: Can students learn Software Engineering
concepts or reinforce them using a simulation
game?
• RQ 2: What characteristics are required for a
simulation game to be capable of supporting
the learning process?
Research
-Describe my experience in creating a
Software Engineering simulation game.
- Present the problems that we faced and
the proposed solutions.
The discussion is guided by a list of selected
game attributes that are related to
learning.
SPIAL
Game Attributes
What are the game attributes that foster learning?
Research
Attributes
Malone
Challenge, Curiosity, Fantasy
Garris and
Colleagues
Fantasy, Rules/Goals, Sensory Stimuli, Challenge, Mystery,
and Control.
Wilson and
Colleagues
Adaptation, Assessment, Challenge, Conflict, Control,
Fantasy, Language/Communication, Interaction
(equipment, interpersonal, social), Location, Mystery,
Pieces of players, Progress and Surprise, Representation,
Rules/goals, Safety, Sensory stimuli
Bedwell and
Colleagues
Action Language, Assessment, Conflict/Challenge,
Control, Environment, Game Fiction, Human Interaction,
Immersion, and Rules/Goals
Simulation Games
• The theoretical base of educational game is
still incipient
– A few frameworks have been proposed to
help during the development process.
– And, it is not possible to make an
association among the game requirements,
attributes, and activities.
Frameworks
[Staalduinen e Freitas, 2011]
[Loh, 2009]
[Marcos e Zagalo, 2011]
Game Attributes
• How were these game attributes
incorporated into the development process?
Attribute
Characteristic
Language and communication
Simple Interaction mechanisms
Assessment , Progress and
visual stimulus
Feedback (score, tables
bubbles, graphs)
Control, Interaction
(equipment) , Mystery and
Surprise
Random Events and players’
reaction
Location, Representation and
Fantasy
Software organization
environment.
Problems
What were the main problems faced during the
development and assessment of simulation
games?
1- Emphasis on the initial development phases
2- Assessments were mostly restricted to small pilot
tests and subjective evaluations
3- Restricted number of represented industrial
settings phenomena
4- Lack of academic context analysis
Solution
1- Emphasis on the initial development phases
– Problem: Game development frameworks
and SE simulation games: most of them
emphasize the initial development phase.
– Solution:
• SPIAL: Overcome the problems found in other
simulation games.
• UGALCO: A five-dimension framework for
simulation games evaluation
Solution
2- Assessments were mostly restricted to small
pilot tests and subjective evaluations.
- Problem:
• The evaluations mostly have been preliminary and
informal in nature.
• Evaluations of student’s perception of learning.
- Solution: UGALCO
Open question: evaluation of the learning
effects
Solution
3- Restricted number of represented industrial
settings phenomena.
Problem:
– There is no comprehensive investigation of industrial
phenomena.
Solution:
– In SPIAL we investigated the literature about the SPI
• Difficulty to find data in the literature or with the
appropriate quality level.
• Industrial data with noisy.
Solution
4- Lack of academic context analysis
Problem:
– This includes analysis of the instructors’,
universities’ and students’ needs.
• Quite superficial or non-existent in SE simulation
games.
Solution:
– In SPIAL, we evaluate the students’ common
problems in the team-based project and the
instructors’ impressions.
Conclusion
• Topics for collaboration:
– Design and evaluation of simulation games
– Development approaches for simulation games.
– Conduct experiments with students.
– Application of technologies in the classroom.
• Future work:
– Evaluation of the learning effect.
– Improve games development processes.
– Improve SPIAL (interface, behavior, supporting
material)
Other Games
• Mscrum – Multiplayer game - Web
• PlayCode – Single Player - Smartphome