The crossover project as an introduction to software engineering

We describe a form of team software development project that has been found valuable in the introductory stages of an undergraduate degree programme in software engineering. The pedagogical basis for this particular form of project is discussed, and its structure is described. Some educational aspects of the operation of this project are discussed, namely the way in which it uses scenarios to define the systems to be developed, the way in which the student teams are managed, and the way in which their work is assessed. The results from running the project are evaluated in qualitative terms.