A Two-Course Sequence of Real Projects for Real Customers

Since 2012, over 1,100 students at our institution have participated in software engineering courses in which they had the opportunity to partake in "real projects for real customers." Unlike typical one-semester courses or yearlong capstones, our approach is unique in that we offer a two-course sequence in which one group of students develops the initial implementation in the first course and different students maintain and improve the code in the second. This paper presents our experiences in teaching these courses and serves as a blueprint for other educators who wish to create similar interventions for their students over a two-course sequence. In addition to describing our motivation and the structure of the courses, we discuss how we address issues of scale by using students as Project Managers and the benefits of doing so. We also present empirical evidence that the projects help students feel more confident working in groups, using the agile development process, and working with a real-world customer.