Progress Management Method for Software Development Project-based Learning Using Automated Teaching Assistants

Abstract

In recent years, project-based learning (PBL) in university education has been emphasized for distributed software development courses. Therefore, by assuming distributed development, this research targets PBL and proposes a progress management method for solving project delays of individual students while maintaining the independence of distributed development. Typically, a teaching assistant (TA) provides support to students they recognize as facing issues in class. We propose a progress management method that uses an automated TA (TA-BOT) to solve students' development progress delays by detecting development delays and advising them accordingly in a timely manner. In the proposed method, the timing for advising a student is determined by the degree of his/her delay. We conducted experiments using several student projects, assessed the importance and validity of the advice contents provided by TA-BOT, and verified the effectiveness of the proposed method in some cases.