A hybrid learning course on software development-requirements validation of tool support

Learning of software development demands not only adequate supervision by the instructor, but also intensive interactions among students. In traditional classroom learning, the number of contact hours between the instructor and students is very limited. This severely restricts the amount of guidance and learning that students may receive in a course. In particular, the best practices in software development, such as design modelling, peer review, quality assurance and project management, all require ample practice that is hardly feasible in the traditional classroom learning setting. Supported by e-learning systems and tools, a large part of the interactions between instructors and students can now be done online. We propose a hybrid learning design of software development courses to take advantage of both the rich context available in classroom learning and the benefits of electronic communications. This paper presents the rationale for hybrid learning in such courses, and describes a pilot hybrid learning course on software development for preliminary evaluation and requirements validation of tool support. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.