Learning UML Sequence Diagrams with a New Constructivist Pedagogical Tool
Sohail Alhazmi, Charles Thevathayan, Margaret Hamilton · 2021
Increasingly, students from many different majors are taking foundational courses in Software Engineering (SE) where modelling forms a major part. Novices with limited Object-Oriented (OO) programming skills often find OO modelling concepts abstract and difficult when compared to other topics. In particular, dynamic modelling of sequence diagrams (SDs) was shown to pose the most difficulties when novices learn UML modelling. Novices often do not consider how SDs are constrained by static models such as class diagrams and fail to meet some of the postconditions specified in the use case descriptions. These problems are exacerbated for instructors teaching large classes unable to give adequate formative feedback in the early stages, leading to poor student satisfaction and learning outcomes. This paper explores the efficacy of using a constructivist-learning tool in large classes able to give immediate feedback in the early stages.