Change Management: Overcoming the Challenges of Introducing Self-Driven Learning

Abstract

This paper describes the process of designing a course for Software Engineering that promotes self-driven learning while taking into account student motivation, scaffolding and a constrained ecosystem at the XXX University. The University has certain particularities that distinguish it from other Universities because students alternate quarters between study and work. Thus, students receive a salary during their three years towards earning a Bachelor Degree and attendance is mandatory. In cohorts of around 30 students a class spends an average day with at least 5 hours of mostly frontal lecture in the same classic classroom setup. Software Engineering takes up about 5 hours a week of in-class time in their second year of study and is the first course students have seen with a self-driven, blended learning format. The paper describes the process of designing a course for self-driven learning. It starts with a gamified approach that plunges the student directly into a new world of learning and ends with a scaffolded design that leads the students in a one-year-long process of “unschooling”, leaving students less frustrated and more motivated, while still attaining a high level of achievement.