Using Pull-Based Collaborative Development Model in Software Engineering Courses: A Case Study

Yao Lu, Xinjun Mao, Gang Yin, Tao Wang, Yu Bai

Abstract: The pull-based development model is an emerging way of contributing to distributed software projects within the Open Source Software (OSS) communities. To train students’ development skills with this modern paradigm and evaluate the effects in classroom settings, we designed a pull-based development model in classroom settings. In addition, we built the support environment for the process and integrated it in a popular teaching platform – TRUSTIE. With this platform, we further conducted a case study to investigate how the students benefit from this process and what challenges exist. In this experiment 22 students worked in 5 groups to independently complete an in-classroom programming project. Quantitative and qualitative results show some different characteristics of using pull-based work model from which in the OSS context, and also provide constructive advice for future practices.