ASEST framework: a proposal for improving teamwork by making cohesive software engineering student teams

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teamwork is an important aspect of software engineering education. This paper presents ASEST (Agile Software Engineers Stick Together), a teaching framework whose aim is to improve teamwork in terms of team performance and team learning by developing team cohesion at the graduate level of software engineering student teams. The basis of ASEST was established by identifying the most current trends in teamwork in software engineering education. The framework itself combines these approaches in a procedure consisting of eight steps through which students are expected to go through. A study of one group of students that applied the ASEST framework indicated that their perceptions of team cohesion, team performance and team learning increased significantly compared with the perceptions of the students in a group that did not use the framework. Also, a survey showed students’ acceptance of our proposal.