Case studies: the potential teaching instruments for software engineering education

The current approaches to the software engineering education fall short to fulfill the industry demand for quality software engineering. A constant need to create and imbibe more effective learning environments is growing in order to manage this demand. This paper discusses the learning disabilities possessed by both the conventional and the non-conventional approaches for teaching software engineering. We propose that case studies can be used as effective teaching mediums and a case study centric learning environment can address these learning disabilities. A case study approach can help the students to gain and retain realistic exposure to concepts of software engineering as they are applied in the real world, and the students of today can be groomed as excellent professionals who have experienced the intricacies and complexities of the real world as well as tried their hands to manage these complexities.