Motivating Students in Software Engineering Group Projects: An Experience Report

Abstract

Motivating students to engage with their subject is an ongoing challenge in higher education, particularly in science and engineering. This paper presents experiences gained in introducing robotics as a means to increase engagement with a second-year undergraduate software-engineering group-project module forming part of a computer science degree programme. Robotics is well-established as an effective platform for teaching parts of the computer science curriculum. Nonetheless, the approach is not universally adopted and experience reports are helpful to those introducing robotics to the curriculum for the first time, particularly where robotics itself is not a main curriculum focus. This report presented here aims to identify strengths and weaknesses, and expose lessons learned from what was a broadly successful experience, of which students reported high motivation and enjoyment. Nonetheless some logistical, pedagogical, and technical issues were encountered from which lessons can be learned.