Educator Experiences of Low Overhead Student Project Risk Management.

Many software-related courses at tertiary level incorporate group projects in their assessment strategy. Project goals vary according to course learning outcomes, for example, consolidating course content and preparing students for industry by providing experience in teamwork. Studies have shown that many teams experience issues that are detrimental to project goals. In this paper, we explore the use of a risk framework that has been created to support academic group projects. We invited instructors from the computer science (CS) and software engineering (SE) disciplines within our university to use the framework to support their group projects and to report on their experience. Instructors from eight courses used the framework to address different needs. Most educators found the risk framework useful but students were more indifferent or critical. An outcome of our experience is the recommendation that instructors need to ensure risk plans are implemented throughout the project and to assess risk-related activities.