Reflective essays in software engineering

Software engineering education has evolved over the past ten years as understanding of the issues related to the practice of developing software systems has increased. A part of that evolution is an increased appreciation that learning software development requires more than participating in a design project. The design project provides a context in which the social and technical aspects of software engineering can become visible, but students often fail to learn the intended lessons. The authors, like other academics, believe that active reflection on experiences during these activities promotes the acquisition of more meaningful and persistent learning. They further believe that writing can and should play a critical role in promoting that reflective learning when the writing assignments require students to explore connections that arise during project activity. This will occur, however, only if the learning environment supports students in the construction and management of the writing activity, and supports faculty in providing the necessary feedback to students regarding their ideas. In this paper, the authors describe how their incorporation of writing activities in software project courses has evolved over the past five years, and a formative evaluation of their current efforts in software engineering.