UML modeling is an important skill to learn and exercise in software engineering. However, modeling is often not tangible for students and is often not appreciated by beginners. Students prefer coding because they receive immediate feedback from the compiler which is not the case for modeling. Engaging students in modeling is difficult, especially in large introductory courses.

We have developed an interactive learning method for modeling which is based on an easy to use online editor. Students get to know modeling in guided tutorials during in-class exercises right after the theory was introduced and deepen their modeling skills in group work and homework exercises subsequently. This learning method was applied in a very large software engineering introductory course with more than 1000 students which emphasizes the benefits of modeling in all phases of software development.

An empirical evaluation of the method demonstrated that the students’ learning outcome in modeling improved significantly by up to 87 %. Students are motivated to use models in their future software engineering projects and understand how to approach problems with models. The use of interactive models in programming exercises improves their understanding of the taught concepts.