Positive experiences with an open project assignment in an introductory programming course

The course SIF8005 Object-Oriented Programming at the NTNU is in many respects taught in a quite traditional manner, with a well-known textbook, lectures in huge auditoria, and compulsory exercises that the students have to deliver to be allowed to sit a final written exam. The exercise part of the course is a mixture of individual exercises on a weekly basis, and a somewhat larger project to be done by groups of 4 students. This paper particularly discusses the project, which has become a huge success after some notable changes were made for the 2001 offering of the course. Then the assignment profile was changed from one of fixed requirements set by staff to an open assignment, where each group made a computer game according to their own preferences. This change eliminated many of the problems present in earlier offerings and increased student inspiration.