Calico: Improving Software Design Education with Tool Support, Design Exercises, and Course Modules for Sketch-Based, Continuous Design Practice and Reflection

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Computer Science (31) This project focuses on software design education, and provides tool support, design exercises, and course modules for sketch-based, continuous design practice and reflection. From an educational perspective, the process by which a student or group of students arrives at some particular software design is as important as the design itself. What alternatives were considered? Why were certain alternatives favored over others? How deeply were the various alternatives explored? What primary concerns drove the design process and the choices that were made? What constraints were assumed and applied? In the answers to these and other similar questions lie valuable opportunities for instructors and students to reflect upon and learn from the design process undertaken. This expansion project brings together and builds upon three related strands of work: (1) observing actual software designers in action, (2) implementing a tool for supporting creative, sketch-based software design activities, and (3) migrating to a studio-based approach to software design education. Preliminary results from this work highlight a strong potential for a new approach to software design education, one in which practice and reflection through sketching take center stage in a studio-oriented educational setting, and one in which the sketching exercises, whether in class or out of class as part of an assignment, are supported and continuously reflected upon through powerful instructional technology.The project has six components: (1) further developing Calico, an existing prototype software design sketching tool, into a design environment more explicitly geared towards education, (2) creating an extensive library of sketch-oriented design exercises, (3) providing course modules, (4) performing comprehensive, multi-university evaluations to gather conclusive evidence regarding the educational merits of the approach, its success factors, its strengths and weaknesses, (5) promoting faculty development through workshops/tutorials at conferences, a web-based portal, and sample lectures published via iTunes university, and (6) creating an effective strategy for widespread dissemination.