OSSDoorway: A Gamified Environment to Scaffold Student Contributions to Open Source Software
Software engineering courses enable practical learning through assignments requiring contributions to open source software (OSS), allowing students to experience real-world projects, collaborate with global communities, and develop skills and competencies required to succeed in the tech industry. However, students struggle to contribute to OSS projects and do not understand its contribution process. Literature has shown that gamification techniques have the potential to support the learning process. This paper proposes and evaluates OSSDoorway, a gamified environment designed to support students contributing to OSS projects. We recruited 37 students and administered a self-efficacy questionnaire before and after their use of OSSDoorway, along with qualitative feedback to assess challenges, helpful interface features, and suggestions for improvement. The results show that OSSDoorway significantly boosts students’ self-efficacy and provides a structured, gamified learning experience. Clear instructions, real-time feedback, and the quest-based system helped students navigate tasks like using GitHub features to submit pull requests and collaborating with the community. Our findings suggest that providing students with a supportive environment that uses feedback and structured quests can help them navigate the OSS contribution process.
Tue 29 AprDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
16:00 - 17:30 | Gamification and Engagement in LearningCSEE&T at 106 Chair(s): Sandro Speth Institute of Software Engineering, University of Stuttgart Due to a last minute change, the presentation of the paper “Robotics Software Engineering Education: An Experience Report” is being moved to the “Experiential Learning” session in room 206 on Monday at about noon as a 4th paper. | ||
16:00 20mTalk | OSSDoorway: A Gamified Environment to Scaffold Student Contributions to Open Source Software CSEE&T Italo Santos Northern Arizona University, Katia Felizardo Federal Technological University of Paraná, Anita Sarma Oregon State University, Igor Steinmacher NAU RESHAPE LAB, Marco Gerosa Northern Arizona University Pre-print | ||
16:20 20mTalk | Robotics Software Engineering Education: An Experience Report CSEE&T Meenakshi Manjunath Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Jeshwitha Jesus Raja Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Rainer Herrler Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Marian Daun Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt | ||
16:40 20mTalk | Teaching Loop Testing to Young Learners with the Code Critters Mutation Testing Game CSEE&T Philipp Straubinger University of Passau, Lena Bloch University of Passau, Gordon Fraser University of Passau Pre-print | ||
17:00 20mTalk | Bug-Hunting Games to Add Excitement in Software Testing and Programming Classes CSEE&T Natalia Silvis-Cividjian Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Jasper Veltman Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Auke Buchel Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Erik Link Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Joshua Kenyon Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Michel Oey Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Pre-print |