Constructive alignment in SE education: aligning to what?

Armarego, J. (2009) Constructive alignment in SE education: aligning to what? In: Ellis, Heidi J. C, Demurjian, Steven A and Naveda, J. Fernando, (eds.) Software engineering: effective teaching and learning approaches and practices. Information Science Reference, Hershey, PA, pp. 15-37.

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Abstract

Practitioner studies suggest that formal IT-related education is not developing the skills and knowledge needed by graduates in daily work. In particular, a shift in focus from technical competency to the soft and metacognitive skills is identified. This chapter argues that a framework for learning can be developed that more closely models the experiences of practitioners, and addresses their expectations of novice Software Engineers. Evaluation of a study incorporating three Action Research cycles shows that what is needed is a mapping between the characteristics of professional practice and the learning model that is applied. The research shows that a relationship also exists between learner and learning model, and that this relationship can be exploited in the development of competent discipline practitioners.