Benefits and challenges of using collaborative development environments with social software in higher computer science education

Abstract

This paper addresses the question how to optimally support projects of students and employees of a higher education institution of computer science by means of a special software environment. At first the motivation to introduce such a supportive system is examined by describing the current situation in the authors' department of computer science, which is typical for many colleges and universities. On the one hand problems are pointed out, which hamper students and employees in their project work, on the other hand the additional possibilities of a supportive system, which far exceed the ones of a traditional approach, are drafted. The paper shows how a mutual value for students and employees can be generated from the projects by using social software. After the requirements are described we suggest an architecture for such a supportive system and finally the challenges for the implementation and application, which determine the success or failure of the system, are discussed. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.