Progression of tool usage in project-based IT courses

The research full paper examines what kind of IT tools (software and hardware) are used in project-based IT courses, where students create digital artefacts like games, apps, audio, VR worlds, web sites etc. The analysis is based on data from 46 IT courses, collected during the spring and fall semesters of 2017 at two Norwegian universities. The analysis of these data has led to a classification of the tools used by students in PjBL and guidelines for ensuring progression of tool usage in course design and study program design. The IT tools were classified into the following categories: Collaboration; Communication; Developer Platforms; Physical Tools; and Project Management. The analysis is done with reference to the existing body of literature on active learning, e.g. constructivism and constructionism, and taxonomies for learning. The study discusses ways in which tools may be used to enhance learning in the Creating level of Bloom's revised taxonomy. The data was further analysed through a "lens of progression", resulting in guidelines for study program designers and course designers, with the goal of quality assuring the tool implementation and usage in project-based IT courses and study programs. The guidelines systematically structure the tool categories with the study program design and recommend an increasing student autonomy throughout the progression of the studies. The guidelines also focus on the implementation of professional tools in IT courses, as tools are influencing students' identity development. The goal of the study is to contribute to the quality assurance of digital tool usage in IT study programs and the project-based courses, where it is important to define pre-requisites and to ensure that students learn to use different digital tools in the right order and that students know the necessary tools for their discipline.