The Developer’s Journey: A Storytelling Framework for Cooperative Learning in Software Engineering

Abstract

An educational storytelling concept is presented, inspired by the archetypal story pattern common in ancient myths as well as modern day adventures. Software development is a complex profession demanding constant learning and improvement in a field changing almost daily. Apart from learning new technologies and writing computer code, much of a developer’s time is spent on problem-solving and debugging – that is, detecting and correcting errors and bugs that cause a system to break or behave unexpectedly. The average developer regularly goes through a series of transformative steps to overcome intricate problems that often appear obscure and enigmatic at the beginning. The return with special knowledge to share with others is the final reward earned on the Developer’s Journey. Under the premise that a good story can change our perception and offset the biases of our interpretation of reality, a didactic method has been designed for sharing and interpreting experiences in a cooperative learning environment. In the context of cloud computing education, its effects on problem-solving, motivation and perception are evaluated. We analyze transformative learning opportunities in connection with narratives and discuss its potentials and limitations in community-based learning.