Beyond anecdote towards real transfer

Abstract

The EPCoS project (Effective Project work in Computer Science) is working to map the range of project work practices and to generate insights into what characterises the contexts in which particular techniques are effective. In assembling a body of authentic examples, EPCoS aims to provide a resource that enables extrapolation and synthesis of new techniques. Structured resources and process models are essential tools for supporting responsiveness in the current climate of continual change: the rapid development of computer technology is demanding new range and flexibility in project work, and EPCoS's mapping of project-based teaching allows practitioners to respond to these changes. Moreover, EPCoS is examining the process by which practices are transferred between institutional contexts, with a view to identifying effective models of that process. In this paper, we describe EPCoS's work-in-progress and describe briefly how technology makes the catalogue easier to use, providing tailored access, fast selection and juxtaposition, and the potential for an extensible, updated, distributed resource.