Teaching software engineering by means of computer-game development: Challenges and opportunities

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Date

2007

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Wiley

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Software Engineering
(2005)
Department of Software Engineering was founded in 2005 as the first department in Ankara in Software Engineering. The recent developments in current technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Blockchains, have placed Software Engineering among the top professions of today, and the future. The academic and research activities in the department are pursued with qualified faculty at Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctorate Degree levels. Our University is one of the two universities offering a Doctorate-level program in this field. In addition to focusing on the basic phases of software (analysis, design, development, testing) and relevant methodologies in detail, our department offers education in various areas of expertise, such as Object-oriented Analysis and Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Software Quality Assurance, Software Requirement Engineering, Software Design and Architecture, Software Project Management, Software Testing and Model-Driven Software Development. The curriculum of our Department is catered to graduate individuals who are prepared to take part in any phase of software development of large-scale software in line with the requirements of the software sector. Department of Software Engineering is accredited by MÜDEK (Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs) until September 30th, 2021, and has been granted the EUR-ACE label that is valid in Europe. This label provides our graduates with a vital head-start to be admitted to graduate-level programs, and into working environments in European Union countries. The Big Data and Cloud Computing Laboratory, as well as MobiLab where mobile applications are developed, SimLAB, the simulation laboratory for Medical Computing, and software education laboratories of the department are equipped with various software tools and hardware to enable our students to use state-of-the-art software technologies. Our graduates are employed in software and R&D companies (Technoparks), national/international institutions developing or utilizing software technologies (such as banks, healthcare institutions, the Information Technologies departments of private and public institutions, telecommunication companies, TÜİK, SPK, BDDK, EPDK, RK, or universities), and research institutions such TÜBİTAK.

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Abstract

Software-engineering education programs are intended to prepare students for a field that involves rapidly changing conditions and expectations. Thus, there is always a danger that the skills and the knowledge provided may soon become obsolete. This paper describes results and draws on experiences from the implementation of a computer game-development course whose design addresses problems in software-engineering education by improving students' abilities in four areas: (1) problem solving; (2) the application of previously learned knowledge; (3) the use of independent learning; and (4) learning by doing. In order to better understand this course's effect on students' performance in a software-development project, I investigated 125 students' performance in a 1-year senior-project course. Results of this study show that the students who had taken the computer game-development course became more successful in the senior-project course than the students who had not taken it.

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Cagiltay, Nergiz/0000-0003-0875-9276

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Citation

83

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Volume

38

Issue

3

Start Page

405

End Page

415

URI

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00705.x
 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14411/951

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