An evaluation of tools supporting enhanced student collaboration

Team communication and project collaboration are critical for the success of todaypsilas software projects. In a one-semester upper-division Software Engineering course offered at our Kutztown University, student project teams worked independently on software systems for real business clients. Throughout the entire software development lifecycle, each team utilized a Google Groups account for project coordination and communication among its team members. The use of Google groups as a forum for team collaboration is re-visited and student experiences with Google Groups are provided. Next, features that are desirable for collaboration are discussed. Then three web-based tools, Basecamp, Central Desktop, and Viewpath are investigated. We compare Google Groups to these collaboration tools with respect to features for collaboration and project management.