Component- vs. application-level MVC architecture

We describe our approach to teaching the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture for GUI applications. Swing adopts MVC at component level. We use it as a case study to illustrate features of MVC and also help students learn to use the tool for programming projects. To encourage them to see beyond a specific tool, we assign students a project to build a domain-specific framework for GUI applications using MVC at application level. This project allows students to learn hands on the MVC architecture as well as other design techniques in a new context. Our two-semester experience shows that a tool-based case study with a follow-up effort as such is productive in teaching practical design techniques.