Evaluation of Model Driven Architecture-Based Instruction for Understanding Phase Transitions in Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

Abstract

Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) courses enable students to establish a requirements model of an application, successively transform those requirements into logical design models, and then transform the logical models into physical design models. However, students attending OOAD courses typically encounter difficulties in the transition. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) provides a model transformation framework for transitioning between OOAD phases. Considering the advantages of MDA in phase transitions, this study proposes that integrating conventional OOAD instruction with the MDA framework and describing transition relations in diagrammatic representations might improve students’ understanding of the transitions. This study used an empirical design that involved using two treatments (MDA-based and conventional instruction) to examine the relevance of MDA-based instruction in the effective understanding of the transitions on the basis of cognitive load theory, the split-attention principle, and theories of representation format. The results indicate that, compared with conventional instruction, MDA-based instruction is more efficient because it improves mental efficiency by reducing extraneous cognitive load. This study can assist educators in understanding the difficulties in learning phase transitions and motivate researchers to develop more effective learning instructions for transitioning between OOAD phases.