A4 Refereed article in a conference publication

The Effect of Real-World Capstone Project in an Acquisition of Soft Skills among Software Engineering Students




AuthorsKhakurel Jayden, Porras Jari

EditorsIEEE

Conference nameConference On Software Engineering Education and Training

PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Publication year2020

JournalConference On Software Engineering Education and Training

Book title 2020 IEEE 32nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T)

Journal name in source2020 IEEE 32nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, CSEE and T 2020

Series titleConference On Software Engineering Education and Training

First page 36

Last page44

ISBN978-1-7281-6807-4

ISSN1093-0175

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1109/CSEET49119.2020.9206201


Abstract

Research suggests that employers value various soft skills highly when recruiting software engineering (SE) graduates in the software industry; however, SE graduate students tend to lack those soft skills. This study examines the effects of a capstone course with a problem/project-based approach in the acquisition of soft skills. In this capstone, the graduate students worked closely on a real-world project with the customers from Finnish public and private organizations. Moreover, the study maps out the identified soft skills from the capstone course to the desired requirements of soft skills in various roles in the software industry. Thematic data analysis of reflections given by 48 students identified fifteen soft skill categories that are mainly acknowledged by the students after the completion of the course. In particular, we have shown that the majority of identified soft skills in this course correspond to the desirable soft skills in the software industry. To conclude, the approach taken in this course is a powerful means to improve the soft skills of the graduate students to meet the needs of employers, and thus increase their employment prospects.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 14:38