Industrial case studies in graduate requirements engineering courses: The impact on student motivation

University education in software engineering instructs sound theoretical concepts together with method competence. It seeks to provide hands-on experience with the learning content along with insights into its application in practice. Even theoretical disciplines are beginning to adopt more experience-oriented instruction as opposed to passive, lecture-oriented instruction. One favored way for experience-oriented instructions is using case studies in lecture-accompanying assignments and/or tutorials. Compared with real-world scenarios, such case studies are often simplified in order to illustrate specific challenges related to the instructed material. This paper reports on our experience in using realistic industry-oriented case studies in a requirements engineering course with graduate students. The experience indicates a strong positive effect on student motivation as well as the degree of comprehension of the instructed theoretical material. These findings are confirmed by evaluations of the learning experience as self-reported through students' questionnaires. Comparing the exam results with previous years indicates substantial improvement in final exam scores.