Complete thesis - Murdoch University

model in order to conceptualise it is not easy. At the least the ‘demand structure’ ofthe situation provides a mental model that may have not existed prior to the requestto define it (as is confirmed by Boland (1985)’s case study)representation just as background, experience and belief structures determine the mentalmodels developed by the system user, background, experience and belief structurescolour the mechanisms the Requirements Engineer puts to use in order to represent thesystem being learnt/taught. Boland found that a different use of language in a dialoguebetween analyst and stakeholder was not simply reflecting the stakeholders’ world buthelping to constitute it. This is critical to the constructivist view of knowledge - not onlymay requirements not be taken as pre-existing, but how they are constructed dependson the representational mechanisms offered by and to the Requirements Engineer andthe cognitive filters employed by all participants. This issue is further coloured bydiffering emphasis placed on the importance of ‘incorrect learning’agreement the process is completed with evolved fit between all parties. Social constructivisttheory deems that models developed and the knowledge constructed is determinedthrough communications with others, with the viability of understanding culturally determined.Implications for RE educationAs discussed in Chapter 2, the failures and shortcomings of Requirements Engineers hasbeen based on lack of skill, training and sensitivity to context, amongst others. Twentyyears later, the knowledge taught to software practitioners and managers in their formalcomputing education still does not match closely the knowledge needed to be applied indaily work (Lethbridge, 2000). This suggests the nature of RE task is not mirrored in thelearning environment being provided to student Requirements Engineers, with the strongpossibility of a failure to transfer knowledge gained to new cases (Spiro et al, 1991).In order to remedy this failure, RE education requires a focus on cognitive flexibility - providingthe student with:• the ability to represent knowledge from different conceptual and case perspectives and,later, the ability to construct from these a knowledge ensemble tailored to the needsof the understanding or problem solving at hand – the same items of knowledge needto be presented and learned in a variety of different ways and for a variety of differentpurposes173