Student Engagement in Software Engineering Group Projects: An Action Research Study

Abstract

We present an action research study on student engagement in group work. The study was carried out within CPT202 Software Engineering Group Projects, a UK Level Two module with 370 students enrolled during the 2020-2021 academic year. The primary finding of our action research is that peer evaluation could encourage student engagement in group work. In addition, student engagement in group work positively correlates with their academic performances. We also discuss several effective strategies in supporting student engagement in the group work of software engineering projects. The results and findings have pedagogical implications in encouraging student engagement not only in software engineering group projects, but also in general activities that involve students working in a group.