SE process modelling and improvement

The variable nature of student populations from year to year, and probably also the projects themselves, make it difficult to assess or detect improvements in the software engineering (SE) process modelling adopted. The changing nature of both students and projects make any comparisons invalid. The choice of SE process model should in any case depend upon the type of project. Even if the project is a constant, not only will the student population vary but there will be variations in the (meta) management of the student groups by the lecturer in charge whose handling of student groups and projects will improve with time and experience. The possibility of having students complete a truncated project which has a head start e.g. being given the requirements specification or the initial design is discussed. This could allow students to embark upon several different projects within the one year or semester thereby applying what they had learnt previously in a subsequent round. The difficulty is that this would have students no longer completing the entire life cycle. Another possibility is to identify some activities which appear in all phases of the life cycle of a project and to target these for measurement/evaluation and improvement, e.g. documentation meeting deadlines, team communication, team management, etc. While this is seen as beneficial, it is limited in scope