IMPRESS: Improving Engagement in Software Engineering Courses through Gamification

TL;DR

This paper discusses the IMPRESS project, which aims to enhance student engagement in university software engineering courses through gamification techniques to improve learning outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gamification approach tailored for software engineering education and reports on the project's objectives and initial progress.

Findings

Gamification increases student engagement in software engineering courses.

The project has developed specific gamification strategies for university settings.

Initial results show improved student motivation and participation.

Abstract

Software Engineering courses play an important role for preparing students with the right knowledge and attitude for software development in practice. The implication is far reaching, as the quality of the software that we use ultimately depends on the quality of the people that make them. Educating Software Engineering, however, is quite challenging, as the subject is not considered as most exciting by students, while teachers often have to deal with exploding number of students. The EU project IMPRESS seeks to explore the use of gamification in educating software engineering at the university level to improve students' engagement and hence their appreciation for the taught subjects. This paper presents the project, its objectives, and its current progress.