Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

5-2026

Abstract

Software development is a collaborative activity that depends on effective teamwork, shared understanding, and coordinated use of development practices and tools. While these aspects are well studied in professional environments, they are less frequently examined within software engineering education. This study investigates how students collaborate in group projects, focusing on collaborative practices, tool usage, and their perceptions of software quality. We conducted a quantitative post-project survey with 143 second-year undergraduate students enrolled in a software development course. The results show that students actively share information and often establish team norms to support coordination and collaboration. However, students face challenges in maintaining shared documentation and codebases, systematically tracking issues, aligning implementations with project requirements, and producing high-quality code. Although students place high importance on software quality attributes such as readability, maintainability, and reusability, many report uncertainty about whether their code meets expected quality standards. These findings provide empirical insights into students’ collaborative and tool-supported development practices and highlight gaps between recommended software engineering practices and students’ actual experiences. The study identifies areas where additional instructional guidance and tool support may be required to better prepare students for collaborative software development in professional contexts.

Keywords

Collaborative Practices, Software Development Tools, Software Engineering Education, Group Projects

Discipline

Software Engineering

Publication

Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, Benidorm, Spain, 2026 May 18-20

First Page

1

Last Page

11

Publisher

SCITEPRESS

City or Country

Portugal

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