Using moodle to support a constructivist, problem-based approach to teaching and assessment

Professional Issues in Software Engineering (PISE) is a final year computer science module taught as part of the computer science degree at the University of Limerick. PISE focuses on the ethical, legal and social consequences of the design, implementation and use of computer and information systems. The pedagogy used in the module has traditionally been the group-based approach to teaching and assessment. However, the growth in the cohort from around 30 to 180 in the 1990s led to a need to consider using ICT to support this pedagogy as the volume of students and their interactions with the learning process produced unsustainable demands on the lecturer. There were a number of related drivers that also gave impetus to this study. These included: • Benefits of using collaborative learning pedagogy • Requirements for authentic learning experience • Need for virtual team skill development • Assessing individual contributions to group-based assignments • Countering plagiarism • Making learning interesting and enjoyable • Applying a constructivist pedagogy These are discussed in the following sections.