Students' and professionals' perceived creativity in software engineering: a comparative study

IF 2 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

European Journal of Engineering Education Pub Date : 2023-12-19 DOI:10.1080/03043797.2023.2294126

Wouter Groeneveld, L. Luyten, Joost Vennekens, Kris Aerts

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Creativity is a critical skill that professional software engineers leverage to tackle difficult problems. In higher education, multiple efforts have been made to spark creative skills of engineering students. However, creativity is a vague concept that is open to interpretation. Furthermore, studies have shown that there is a gap in perception and implementation of creativity between industry and academia. To better understand the role of creativity in software engineering (SE), we interviewed 33 professionals via four focus groups and 10 SE students. Our results reveal 45 underlying topics related to creativity. When comparing the perception of students versus professionals, we discovered fundamental differences, grouped into five themes: the creative environment, application of techniques, creative collaboration, nature vs nurture, and the perceived value of creativity. As our aim is to use these findings to install and further encourage creative problem solving in higher education, we have included a list of implications for educational practice.

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学生和专业人员对软件工程创造力的认识：一项比较研究

创造力是专业软件工程师解决棘手问题的关键技能。在高等教育中，人们为激发工程专业学生的创造性技能做出了许多努力。然而，创造力是一个模糊的概念，可以有多种解释。此外，研究表明，业界和学术界在对创造力的认识和实施方面存在差距。为了更好地了解创造力在软件工程（SE）中的作用，我们通过四个焦点小组对 33 名专业人员和 10 名 SE 学生进行了访谈。我们的结果揭示了与创造力相关的 45 个潜在话题。在比较学生和专业人员的看法时，我们发现了根本性的差异，并将其归纳为五个主题：创造性环境、技术应用、创造性合作、天性与教养以及对创造性价值的认识。由于我们的目的是利用这些发现在高等教育中安装和进一步鼓励创造性地解决问题，因此我们列出了一份对教育实践的影响清单。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

European Journal of Engineering Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

13.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： European Journal of Engineering Education is published six times a year in print and electronic editions and provides an essential forum for dialogue between researchers and specialists in the field of engineering education, at European and worldwide levels. European Journal of Engineering Education is the Official Journal of SEFI, the Socièté Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs (the European Society for Engineering Education). SEFI is a non-governmental organization whose aims are to develop information about engineering education, to improve communication and exchange between professors, researchers and students and to promote cooperation between the various institutions concerned with engineering education.