Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses

• Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and project courses is desirable dueto its potential positive effects on the students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion ofan industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire professional skills. In addition,an increasing push towards education that is aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners canbe observed. However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can create friction andcould, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all involved parties.Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the involvement of external stakeholders inuniversity courses both in a retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in aconstructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders.Key Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the teachers in their analysisof stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate thecollaboration). The guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these activities.In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an action plan based on an analysis of potentialstakeholders and the pedagogical objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identifyissues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing from ideas of the reflectivepractitioner, the model contains an emphasis on reflection and interpretation of the observations made bythe teacher and other groups involved in the courses.Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible toreveal hitherto implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the interaction betweenexternal stakeholders and students. Our empirical data reveals seven recurring risk themes that categorisethe different risks appearing in the analysed courses. These themes can also be used to categorise mitigationstrategies to address these risks pro-actively. Additionally, aspects not related to external stakeholders, e.g.,about the interaction of the project with other courses in the study program, have been revealed. Theconstructive use of the model for one course has proved helpful in identifying action alternatives and finallydeciding to not include external stakeholders in the project due to the perceived cost-benefit-ratio.Implications to practice: Our evaluation shows that the model is viable and a useful tool that allowsteachers to reason about and plan the involvement of external stakeholders in a variety of course settings,and in particular in capstone projects.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Programvaruteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Software Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Capstone Projects

External Stakeholders

Social and professional topics

Computing education

Project and people management

Capstone projects

external stakeholders

higher-education

Education & Educational Research

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