Team dynamics in student programming projects

Abstract

This paper focuses on the interpersonal issues, often referred to as “team dynamics,” that can become quite important as students construct a large-scale programming project. Differing methods in which teams can develop phases of such projects are presented with advantages and disadvantages for each topic discussed. Various methods of student team selection and team communication techniques are first considered. Then various methods that can be used to define large-scale student team projects are discussed. The effect of team dynamics on the classic software engineering phases of specification, implementation, testing, and evaluation phases of student projects is discussed. Four project scenarios that have been used in the authors' classes, as well as rationales for these project designs are discussed. The paper concludes with results derived from using these scenarios in the classroom.