Assessing iterative practical software engineering courses with play money

Abstract

Changing our practical software engineering course from the previous waterfall model to a more agile and iterative approach created more severe assessment challenges. To cope with them we added an assessment concept based on play money. The concept not only includes weekly expenses to simulate real running costs but also investments, which correspond to assessment results of the submissions. This concept simulates a startup-like working environment and its financing in an university course. Our early evaluation shows that the combination of the iterative approach and the play money investments is motivating for many students. At this point we think that the combined approach has advantages from both the supervising and the students point of view. We planned more evaluations to better understand all its effects.