Mohammad Alshayeb, Sajjad Mahmood and Khalid Aljasser, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia

Universities offer software engineering capstone course to simulate a real world-working environment in which students can work in a team for a fixed period to deliver a quality product. The objective of the paper is to report on our experience in moving from Waterfall process to Agile process in conducting the software engineering capstone project. We present the capstone course designs for both Waterfall driven and Agile driven methodologies that highlight the structure, deliverables and assessment plans.To evaluate the improvement, we conducted a survey for two different sections taught by two different instructors to evaluate students’ experience in moving from traditional Waterfall model to Agile like process. Twenty-eight students filled the survey. The survey consisted of eight multiple-choice questions and an open-ended question to collect feedback from students. The survey results show that students were able to attain hands one experience, which simulate a real world-working environment. The results also show that the Agile approach helped students to have overall better design and avoid mistakes they have made in the initial design completed in of the first phase of the capstone project. In addition, they were able to decide on their team capabilities, training needs and thus learn the required technologies earlier which is reflected on the final product quality.

Agile Process, Waterfall Process, Capstone Project, Software Engineering