Student-Based Case Studies in Software Communication

Producing software that lends itself to meaningful, productive use requires engagement with a wide array of stakeholders, few of whom speak the language of formal software documentation. To make students aware of the communication issues surrounding software development, and to instruct them in strategies for addressing these issues, we have been constructing online multimedia case studies, which draw from the real experiences of undergraduate students in their capstone projects. We report on the structure and content of these case studies, and on our approach to building them.