Overview

We are a sub-group of the Information Management Research Group, in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester. We are interested in teaching agile software engineering at all levels, and have designed a number of coaching games and teaching activities covering core agile skills. We also carry out research into how undergraduate students learn and apply important technical practices associated with agile software engineering, such as continuous integration. Our main basic research focus is in the area of agile testing, with an emphasis on test-driven and behaviour-driven development approaches.

Research Projects

Agile Teaching Resources and Coaching Games

Teaching agile software engineering at undergraduate level can be challenging.  Below, we offer links to some of the coaching games and activities we have developed for us in our own teaching.

These activities are free for you to use, provided you keep the University of Manchester branding in place.  Do let us know if you make use of the materials in your course, or have any feedback or suggestions for improvements.

We are also developing a series of free online courses on various topics relating to agile software engineering, on the Future Learn platform.

  • Collaborative Coding in Git: this 6 week course gives an introduction to the core features of Git, with an emphasis on the use of Git as a tool for collaboration within a team. The course features video demos of the techniques in action, plus activities and quizzes to test and develop your understanding and interviews with practicing software engineers about how Git works in their organisations.

Present and Past Members

Suzanne M. Embury, Reader in Software Engineering

Julio Cortes Rios, PDRA in Learner Analytics for Software Engineering

Nikos Konstantinou, Senior Software Developer

Current and Completed PhD Students