Complete thesis - Murdoch University

in RE education. In particular, insights from learning theory and models, such asconstructionism and learner-centring, which appear to address the concerns raised bypractitioners, are reported only as isolated case studies.1.2 The nature of the studyThe objective of this research is to make a contribution to the discipline of RE and its educationby aligning practitioner needs with learning models that address these needs. Duringthis study I will examine how the discipline is perceived in the literature and by practitioners;what is taught, in terms of discipline content and competency levels; how it is taught; andwhat practitioners indicate is missing from the formal education. Using the findings fromthese investigations I will explore the gap between the competency expectations of practitionersof RE and traditional formal education for the discipline, as exemplified by the Bodiesof Knowledge and model curricula. The three IT specialisations of Software Engineering,Computer Science and Information Systems (considered the most visible computing areas(Glass, 1992)) will form the basis of this component of the study. The differing foundations(epistemological, psychological and philosophical) of these IT specialisations are also examined,as these produce differing bodies of knowledge, and different approaches to undertakingthe activities which comprise the discipline.Having identified the gaps reported by practitioners, both through published studies anda small, purposeful sample of RE professionals in industry, I will examine the literature oflearning theory and models. In this way I hope to make explicit the degree of alignment (ordissonance) between practice and education, in effect between the theory-in-practice (whatpractitioners do and what competencies they need to do what they do) and the espousedtheory (what formal education says practitioners do, and how students are taught to do it)(Argyris and Schön, 1974). This task will demonstrate that traditional formal education doesnot meet the competency expectations of discipline practitioners, and assist me in identifyingstrategies, based on non-traditional teaching, which go some way towards addressing these.Once teaching/learning pedagogies that support the development of the knowledge and skillsrequired by practitioners have been determined, I will develop intervention strategies forthe teaching of Requirements Engineering. Accepting the view that RE is a ill-structured‘wicked’ domain, the interventions undertaken in this research examine differing modes ofinquiry and exploration in order to create a learning environment that more closely modelsthe experiences of practitioners, and addresses their expectations of novice RequirementsEngineers. These interventions are planned, actioned and evaluated as cycles within theAction Research methodology. Reflection on the success of the intervention will inform the10