Mistakes in UML Diagrams: Analysis of Student Projects in a Software Engineering Course

CHREN, Stanislav, Barbora BÜHNOVÁ, Martin MACÁK, Lukáš DAUBNER and Bruno ROSSI. Mistakes in UML Diagrams: Analysis of Student Projects in a Software Engineering Course. Online. In Sarah Beecham, Daniela Damian. Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training. Piscataway, NJ, USA: IEEE Press, 2019, p. 100-109. ISBN 978-1-7281-1000-4. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00019.

Basic information

Original name

Mistakes in UML Diagrams: Analysis of Student Projects in a Software Engineering Course

Authors

CHREN, Stanislav (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Barbora BÜHNOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Martin MACÁK (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution), Lukáš DAUBNER (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Bruno ROSSI (380 Italy, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Piscataway, NJ, USA, Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training, p. 100-109, 10 pp. 2019

Publisher

IEEE Press

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Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Stať ve sborníku

Field of Study

10200 1.2 Computer and information sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Publication form

electronic version available online

References:

URL URL

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14330/19:00109059

Organization unit

Faculty of Informatics

ISBN

978-1-7281-1000-4

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICSE-SEET.2019.00019

UT WoS

000570746000011

Keywords in English

Software Engineering; Unified Modelling Language; Common Mistakes; Software Engineering Course

Tags

best4, core_A, firank_1

Tags

International impact, Reviewed

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Abstract

V originále

The Unified Modelling Language (UML) is being widely accepted as a standard modelling notation for visualizing software systems during design and development. UML has thus become part of many software engineering course curricula at universities worldwide, providing a recognized tool for practical training of students in understanding and visualizing software design. It is however common that students have difficulties in absorbing UML in its complexity, and often repeat the same mistakes that have been observed by course tutors in previous years. Having a catalogue of such mistakes could hence increase the effectiveness of both teaching and learning of UML diagrams. In this paper, we present such a catalogue, consisting of 146 types of mistakes in eight types of diagrams. As the main contribution of this study, we use this catalogue to guide the analysis of student projects within a software engineering course. In total, over 2,700 diagrams submitted over 12 weeks of a semester by 123 students were analysed to identify the frequency of mistakes (from the catalogue), correlations of the mistakes between different diagram types, correlation of the quality of student projects to exam results, student behaviour in terms of introducing and fixing the mistakes over time, and other interesting insights. The analysis is described together with its setup and execution, and all datasets and detailed guidebook to the catalogue of all mistakes is made available for download.

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Links

MUNI/A/1040/2018, interní kód MU	Name: Zapojení studentů Fakulty informatiky do mezinárodní vědecké komunity 19 (Acronym: SKOMU) Investor: Masaryk University, Category A
MUNI/A/1213/2017, interní kód MU	Name: Aplikovaný výzkum na FI: bezpečnost počítačových systémů, SW architektury kritických infrastruktur, zpracování velkých dat, vizualizace dat a virtuální realita Investor: Masaryk University, Applied research at FI: computer systems security, SW architecture of critical infrastructure, big data processing, data visualization and virtual reality, Category A