Technology in real-life teaching of distributed software development

Abstract

Distributed Software Development course is a project-based course, currently run together on three universities: in Croatia,Italy and Sweden. The specificity of this course is usage of technology and distance work in order to teach students exactlythat – distributed software development. Students experience what they are learning about through course participation.The goal is to offer students real-life experience of building such a distributed project, by working in distributed teams,having teaching staff and customers in remote universities, or participating in software competitions. Different educationalactivities build on the social constructivism method of learning, supported by various tools and technologies used. Courseevaluation, which is being conducted since the beginning, for 11 years, shows constant and high students’ satisfaction.Students’ comments acknowledge the innovative concept and an opportunity to work in a real-life, distributed environment, with the help of technology.