Pedagogical Pattern #15
Preparation, Industrial Presentation and Roundtable (PIPR) Pattern
(Version 1.0)
Fernando Brito e Abreu
INESC and Lisbon Technical University (ISEG)
Portugal fba@tutankhamon.inesc.pt
Intent:
Bridging the gap between academia and the "real world".
Motivation:
It is often the case, mostly in countries where university staff spend their lifetime careers in academic campus, that software industry reality is quite different from the academic one. By the time students end their graduations and start working in industry, they feel completely unadjusted, either because their knowledge is not applicable or because they lack
some basic understanding of what is day to day life in industry. This includes dealing with several constraints, human resources allocation, motivation, leadership, team
dynamics, client pressure, marketing pressure, conflict resolution, technology migration problems, past experiences and selected tradeoffs and so on!
On the other hand, industry profits largely from having informal networks with university staff and students themselves because they can somehow indirectly shape the
academic curricula to fit their real needs (by making the staff aware) and by establishing means of picking teaglesv among the students.
Applicability:
This pattern can be used whenever the concepts being introduced in the classroom are being (or should be) used in production activities going on in the software industry.
Structure:
Preparation:
It is the author's experience that much more insights are
gained if students are taught what they are going to see or
hear beforehand. This includes introducing, in the classroom,
all the theoretical concepts related to the industrial
presentation to be carried out at a later moment (eventually
on another day). Students gain the ability to criticize and
ask questions, that otherwise would only occur too late.
Industrial presenter should also be tpreparedv (informal
meeting with one academic lecturer) in the sense that (s)he
must be aware of which is the basic background of the intended
audience (the students) in order to shape its presentation. Industrial Presentation:
The theme of the presentation can be varied: tools adoption,
migrating legacy systems, dealing with human resources,
calendar and budget constraints, enforcing reuse adoption,
configuration management procedures, subcontracting policies,
verification and validation mechanisms in use and so on. These
presentations can be carried out in class (invited speaker
approach). However, it would have much more impact if done at
the industry premises (offices, labs, ...). Presentations
should be carried out in normal working days when trealv
activity is taking place. Weekend visits in empty premises are
not a thrilling and enriching experience. If presentation
involves a site tour, students should be split in small groups
and taught to minimize the risk of being intrusive. Roundtable:
After the presentation is over, all students, respective
teachers and industrial presenter(s) gather in one room where
they can ask and share with others whatever doubts, questions
and comments they feel appropriate. The teacher may start with
some preliminary questions, although (s)he may already know
the answers, in order to stimulate the discussion session.
This meeting should not take more than one hour.
Consequences:
The PIPR pattern:
provides the students (and in fact the lecturers themselves) with a more realistic view of what are the problems faced by real world projects in the software industry;
enables lecturers to give more concrete, less abstract, lectures;
allows students to realize "why" rather than on "how" things are done;
invites students to reflect on what they have learned;
makes the learning process more fun by introducing external agents and probably external visits (multinationals have long understood the benefit of conducting kickoffs).
Implementation:
Issues to consider:
this pattern can be instantiated several times in the same term;
distant visits should be avoided because some students may not afford the costs involved and because it can take too much time.
Related Patterns:
(none so far)
Example Instances:
This pattern has been used to teach Software Engineering Project Management and Software Quality Principles and Techniques. Its generality is believed to allow it to be equally applied in other teaching areas.
Resources:
The instantiation of this method requires that the lecturer have contacts in industry or that (s)he is allowed the opportunity and budget to visit a few industries in order to select, negotiate and plan the interaction events.