Strategies to Improve At-risk Students’ Learning and Achievement: Undergraduate Software Engineering Course Case Study

Abstract

In this research paper, we have investigated how to improve at-risk students’ learning and achievement in Software Engineering-design and development course, which is an undergraduate course that combines both knowledge of software development and practical skills for analysis and design of software projects. The study covers three main issues: how to early identify at-risk students in the class; how to engage at-risk students positively in the class activities and how to pay more attention to at-risk students in the class. Several strategies to improve at-risk students’ learning and achievement were recommended: adjust teaching style to combine meaningful, engaged learning teaching style and adapt to Constructivist teaching and learning models; design challenging class activities that are meaningful to the students that correspond to real-world tasks and require collaboration with peers in the classroom as well as with others outside the classroom; design assessment of learning method in terms of presenting a real-world project and collaborating with small size team and make use of technology to design interactive instructional environment.