Validated Undergraduates’ Misconceptions about Software Engineering

Abstract

(Pre-)Conceptions are of central importance when it comes to learning in a (social) constructivist meaning. This can be explained by the fact that new information gets linked with existing knowledge and prior experiences. Therefore undergraduates do not enter university or a specific course as “blank sheets” or “empty vessels”. This is why lecturers should take prior knowledge into consideration for designing as well as implementing teaching and learning arrangements. To focus especially on Misconceptions 1 as potential learning obstacles, the first step is to identify these (Mis-)conceptions. Therefore, the paper covers a first catalogue of Misconceptions in Software Engineering, as the result of a mixed-methods approach enclosing Grounded Theory Methodology to elicit undergraduates’ statements about Software Engineering, its tools, methods, and processes and reconstruct the (Mis-)conceptions included; as well as a subsequent expert validation of the Misconceptions found using qualitative data.