Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Attempts to deal with these issues have been made in the area of software design education,where the more traditional lecture + laboratory work + assessment tasks are augmented byeither a capstone project which simulates a start to finish development environment or anindustry-based placement (both typically towards the completion of the qualification). Theseare seen to provide opportunities for both authentic and experiential learning, with emphasisnot so much on acquisition of knowledge as on increasing students’ ability to perform tasks.While accepted as valuable, this approach is flawed in several respects. These factors arebased on the description of learning environments proposed in the work of Savin-Baden(2000):• the opportunity (project or placement) is presented as an aid to content learning ratherthan a substitute• it focuses on know-how which will allow students to gain competence to practice withingiven frameworks (but not necessarily outside of them)• students are expected to transfer skills acquired to the world of work, but without themnecessarily being rooted in cognitive content and professional judgement.Although providing experiential learning opportunities, learning from experience is not automatic:it requires transfer to be enabled. This transfer is enhanced where there is a focuson metacognitive strategies and reflection. It is this facet that is often missing from capstoneprojects and placements.3.4.2 Factors against successAn education model for RE can be derived from the discussions in the Chapter 2 and thischapter. As shown in Figure 3.5 and discussed in Chapter 1, the educational process is basedon technical knowledge and competence derived from IT specialisation-relevant BoKs andmodel curricula. These in their turn have been developed, through a consultative process(albeit usually within a narrow view of the specialisation), from expert opinion and acknowledgedtexts within the discipline. The educational process itself is influenced by the acceptedmodel for professional education (with some allowance for practitioner-influenced authenticitythrough capstone projects and placements), institution-based generic attributed (derived,albeit at several stages removed, from practitioner input), and, within the specialisation, isitself influenced by a perspective drawn from the BOKs and texts. This perspective is underpinnedby a stance taken on the underlying epistemology, psychology and philosophy ofknowledge and learning. These are also foundational influences for the educational process.151