Complete thesis - Murdoch University

ing/metacognition as well as strategies to enable opportunism and creativity.By specifically examining the match between gaps identified by practitioners and educationmodels that purport to focus on these, learning interventions have been planned, applied andrefined as part of this research.Through evaluation of these Action Research cycles, this study shows that non-traditionalapproaches can provide leverage for the student entering the profession of RE by explicitlyaddressing the gaps identified by practitioners. This is achieved through a shift in focus fromtechnical competency to the soft and metacognitive skills that enable the competent practiceof RE. However, the same evaluation shows that an incorrect learning environment can stillexist between professional practice and non-traditional education – what is needed is tuningto a finer granularity so that the characteristics of professional practice are mapped to andreflected in the learning model that is applied.The research also shows that, as well as alignment between discipline and learning model, analignment can exist between learner and learning model, and suggests that this relationshipshould be exploited in the development of competent practitioners.9.1 Summary of the researchThis final chapter provides a summary of the research, discusses the value of the findings andindicates what possibilities arise from it.The overview of the literature provided in Chapter 2 makes it is possible to identify a conceptualmodel of the Requirements Engineering discipline.Chapter 2 also examines the practitioner perspective, and the perception they have of competencygaps in formal education. These studies have suggested that, assuming appropriatetechnical knowledge, formal education does not address their needs for competent practitionersin the areas of Stance and Intellectual Capabilities (Scott and Wilson, 2002) specificto Requirements Engineering, namely cognitive skills related to higher order learning andmetalearning/metacognition as well as strategies to enable opportunism and creativity. AsGardner (1983) noted, a high level of intellectual competence, in particular the potential forfinding or creating problems as well as solving them, lays the groundwork for the acquisitionof new knowledge.However, the literature of learning, discussed in Chapter 3, indicates that the characteristicsof RE can be addressed within a formal education environment, albeit not by traditionallearning.389