Structured Methodologies vs UML Artifacts Revisited: A perspective from a developing country

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to examine students’ perceptions and comprehension of modeling techniques in the context of structured methodology (SM) and united modeling language (UML). This investigation will make use of a fundamental system that describes a university’s registration system. Students frequently encounter projects that require the use of structured techniques and the creation of artifacts like data flow diagrams and entity relationship diagrams for documentation. In contrast, the use case and object data hierarchy are incorporated into the specification of UML artifacts. The students are provided with specification diagrams and instructed to evaluate the two system specifications using a set of 20 questions for each form of modeling artifact and six questions regarding the incorporation of both modeling methodologies. Under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member, students complete the questionnaire in a classroom setting. The study’s findings indicated that statistically significant variation was not observed in the vast majority of questions. This discovery provides additional evidence to support the notion that both methodologies may be utilized successfully in undergraduate courses, albeit within the context of distinct courses. This examination places a primary emphasis on the educational instruction environment. However, project managers should exercise caution before adopting Unified Modeling Language (UML) without scrutinizing the unique characteristics and requirements of the given application domain. Future research may examine the adoption of active documentation by student collectives, with an emphasis on comparing agile methodologies to Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Structured Methods (SM).