Improving motivation and performance through personal development in large introductory software engineering courses

In 1993, the first year class in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth totalled just 93 students. This year it is 190. In line with most universities in the UK the total number of students in the department has more than doubled in the last five years and as is typical, the number of staff is largely unchanged. This paper describes two main development phases that have been undertaken to enhance the student experience and improve the quality of our teaching despite the ever-increasing workload