Teaching a Global Software Development Course: Student Experiences Using Onsite Exercise Simulation

Over the past decade, major advancements in software development have occurred in the global context. Global software development (GSD) is an effective strategy, and many higher educational institutions have been offering GSD courses. These courses are usually organized together with another institution situated in a different location. However, conducting such a course with more than one institution is not so economical since it involves greater collaboration among various institutions than in the case of a general onsite course. In this paper, we present an onsite simulation that deals with the specifics in the field of GSD training and teaching. We analyzed the students' learning reflections with a phenomenographic approach to validate the relevance of the design science construct of the course model containing an onsite simulation. Based on the analyzed data, it is possible to organize a GSD course on a single location with the aid of role-play simulation. The presented course model can help an institution prepare its students to solve most of the common problems faced in industrial GSD settings.