2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-

SEET)

“Is My Mic On?”

Preparing SE Students for Collaborative Remote
Work and Hybrid Team Communication
Makayla Moster∗ , Denae Ford† , and Paige Rodeghero∗
∗ School
of Computing, Clemson University
Clemson, South Carolina 29631
Email: {mmoster, prodegh}@clemson.edu
† Microsoft Research

Redmond, WA 98052
Email: [email protected]

Abstract—Communication is essential for the success of student students from non-traditional backgrounds [3]. The advantages
and professional software engineering (SE) team development of learning in an online modality include greater accessibil-
projects. The projects delivered by SE courses provide valuable ity, more flexibility and reduced commute time and carbon
learning experiences for students because they teach industry-
required skills such as teamwork, communication, and schedul- footprint [3], [4]. Disadvantages of online-only learning in-
ing. Professional SE teams have adopted communication software clude isolation, weaker engagement, and technology interrup-
such as Slack, Miro, Microsoft Teams, and GitHub Discussions tions [3]–[5]. Although there are disadvantages, in 2013 over
to share files and convey information between team members. 5.5 million students were enrolled in at least one online course
Likewise, they have distributed software development tools such and almost 70% of U.S. universities reported online classes as
as Visual Studio CodeSpaces and Jira to support productivity.
In contrast, within academia, students have focused on having part of their future strategies [6], [7].
face-to-face meetings for team communication and communi- Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these disad-
cation tools for file sharing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, vantages are exacerbated in students caused by the increased
universities have been forced to switch to an online or hybrid stress, isolation, and uncertainty surrounding everyday life.
modality abruptly, thus compelling SE students to quickly adopt Solely online learning requires stable internet access and
communication software. This paper proposes a study on the use
of communication software in industry to prepare students for technological devices. Those who lack internet access or rely
remote software development positions after graduation. on campus technology or the internet are at a disadvantage
Index Terms—remote work, collaboration, communication, from the unexpected transition to online learning [8]. Online
hybrid teams, SE pedagogy students are also more likely to have a decrease in classroom
productivity and learning engagement due to the higher risk
I. I NTRODUCTION of being interrupted by family members or pets [8].
Traditionally, students taking software engineering (SE) The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted students and soft-
courses complete a team project over the semester to apply ware developers’ lives by forcing them to abruptly switch
knowledge learned and to help prepare for future industry from their office to a fully remote workflow. This switch
roles [1]. These team projects are assigned to teach students caused developers to be more reliant on their communication
industry-required skills such as familiarity with codebases, software to share ideas and files between team members [9].
teamwork, communication, scheduling, etc [2]. Unfortunately Ford et al. conducted a survey of 2,265 software engineer
and recently, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) respondents during the coronavirus pandemic to identify the
pandemic has forced many academic institutions to transition challenges that remote software developers face [10]. They
to fully online or hybrid model courses. The pandemic has found communication between team members takes twice as
made it impossible for many students to meet face-to-face long due to increased response times and developers feel
to work on their team projects. This means that student pressured to be responsive to work messages at all times [10].
teams must adopt an online communication tool such as the Before the COVID-19 pandemic, SE instructors typically
university’s provided learning management system (LMS), incorporated a semester-long development project to help
GroupMe, Slack, or Microsoft Teams to adapt their collab- prepare their students for future industry roles [11]. Tradition-
oration to an online modality. ally, these team SE projects help students learn marketable
Online versions of SE courses are not a novelty of and soft skills, such as version control and communication,
the COVID-19 pandemic. Many universities offered online through the simulation of a professional SE development team.
courses and traditional face-to-face classes before the pan- Communication is a necessary skill for graduates to have
demic started, which normally had a higher enrollment of for software development positions in industry [12]–[14]. For

978-1-6654-0138-8/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE 89

DOI 10.1109/ICSE-SEET52601.2021.00018
example, global and distributed software development have customer satisfaction with the developed product [20]–[22].
become increasingly popular in recent years. These teams Anewalt et al. surveyed 113 randomly-selected SE alumni
have developers across the world collaborating on projects. from the University of Mary Washington and found that they
Unfortunately, this distribution of team members can cause ad- preferred incorporating additional communication courses in
ditional challenges in collaboration and communication [15], the university’s computer science degree plan, based on their
[16]. Companies rely on software such as Skype, Slack or early-career communication experiences, to increase students’
Microsoft Teams to convey information between team mem- oral communication skills [18].
bers [15], [17]. In a previous study, one SE course simulated By simulating an industry-level project in the classroom,
a global development team using strict timezones for team Iacob et al. found in their study that SE students perceived
members and communication software [16]. Students could team communication as a challenge during the beginning of
use whichever software they deemed appropriate, with the a team project and that the students preferred to have face-
majority choosing Facebook and Skype for their chatting to-face meetings over remote communication via industry-
features [16]. Communication applications make it easier for accepted communication platforms such as Slack [23]. Unfor-
any team, regardless of location or occupation, to collaborate. tunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the option for face-
In this paper, we present a proposed evaluation of various to-face team meetings is unfeasible, and students are required
communication tools SE student teams use, how productive to transition to online software for communication with their
the teams are, how effective their communication is, and teammates. The ability to effectively utilize online tools for
their feelings toward using software instead of face-to-face communication is crucial to the future of the software devel-
meetings. We also present a plan to explore the tools currently opment industry as remote work becomes more desirable for
being used in industry to compare and contrast with the employees’ safety and company budgets. This proposal seeks
ones being used in academia. We note that team projects in to identify the communication tools utilized by SE student and
software engineering courses aim to help students learn and industry teams and communication effectiveness, productivity,
improve the skills necessary for their future roles in industry. and feelings toward using software to communicate to further
Therefore, as the future of work has shifted, in some ways prepare SE students for future remote development roles.
overnight, we need to understand the new industry standards
better to prepare students for their careers. The future of the III. BACKGROUND AND R ELATED W ORK
software development industry after the COVID-19 pandemic In this section, we discuss the background and related work
is uncertain, but by preparing students for remote development on online education, industry team project communication,
roles now, they will be more flexible entering the workforce. software engineering team project communication, and remote
work communication challenges.
II. T HE P ROBLEM
With the sudden introduction to online and hybrid courses A. Online Education
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, software engineering courses Online education has become increasingly popular with
have to shift their classrooms and material online. Still, in- universities in recent years, with one 2016 study finding that
structors continue to assign team projects due to their valuable online or distance education enrollments had increased for the
learning experiences. The problem we aim to address is that past fourteen years. It found that about 30% of all students
due to the online and hybrid modality of courses, SE students enrolled in at least one online course [7]. A 2018 survey
must find new tools for communication between team mem- conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that
bers. Unfortunately, we do not know what tools are currently over 6 million students, or 6% of all students, take at least
being used by industry. Therefore, we must explore tools used one online course [6]. The same study found that the total
for remote communication and work in the industry and apply number of solely on-campus student enrollments dropped by
them to the classroom environment. During team projects, 6.4%, or over 1 million students, between 2012 and 2016 [6].
students’ communication skills are essential for success in There are two standard models for online education, hy-
preparing for industry roles, even more so now, due to the brid/blended or fully online. The hybrid (or blended) model
industry uncertainty caused by COVID-19. is where part of the students’ learning material is delivered
Radermacher et al. and Anewalt et al. identified commu- online, and the other part is delivered in-person. The fully-
nication as an area that recent graduates are deficient in their online model does not require students to attend a physical
early career as software developers [13], [18]. Communication classroom due to all learning materials being online [24].
is a key skill for graduates to have not just for conveying With the increased demand for online education in the
ideas with their future colleagues but also for conversing era of portable smart devices, students are more likely to
with future customers. Customer software requirements are use mobile versions of LMS over desktop counterparts [3].
often vague and unhelpful, but by acquiring the skills to Al-Emran et al. found in their study 99% of students have
communicate effectively through coursework, students will mobile devices and 41.5% of them use mobile devices for
be better prepared to elicit the necessary information from web browsing and accessing email [25]. Previous research
customers [19]. Previous studies found that the quality that suggests that using mobile devices for online learning results
developers communicated with stakeholders influenced overall in positive outcomes [3]. However, there are drawbacks to

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solely online education, such as isolation, reduced faculty- most preferred method. However, students chose to use other
student interaction, and technological interruptions [3]. methods such as WhatsApp, Trello, GitHub Issues, Skype,
social media, Piazza, and Google Hangouts [29].
B. Team Communication in Industry Another study chose to simulate global SE projects from
There is a rich body of literature on communication within within the classroom, allowing student teams to choose their
software development teams. Communication is an impor- communication platforms and different simulated timezones
tant process within the development of software. Without for each team member to work in [16]. During their project,
communication between team members, many projects would they found that 21% of their students used Skype to chat
fail immediately. Ineffective communication between project between team members and 61% used Facebook to chat [16].
team members is much harder to fix than improving a team These two examples show that communication is essential
member’s technical skills [26]. during team projects, and that students can identify tools
Face-to-face interactions are an important communication that they need to use to communicate effectively with their
method between developers since it allows for immediate teammates. Our study seeks to determine if the tools students
feedback and discussion [27]. However, there are different choose to use for team communication help prepare them for
tools that development teams use for communication be- post-graduation remote software development roles.
tween projects. Due to the increase in global or distributed
programming, most development teams have to adopt com- D. Remote Communication Challenges
munication and organization tools between members [27]. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, business or team meetings
Some more popular team communication platforms include were not limited to physical interactions. Companies increas-
Slack, Flowdock, and Hipchat [28]. These different software ingly held virtual meetings to include their stakeholders or
platforms support collaborative chat threads organized into geographically-distributed team members for discussions [30].
distinct categories for different project aspects. They have The advantages of remote communication include reduced
multiple social features, such as instant messaging, video calls, travel cost, teammates’ ability to have regular contact through
separate channel topics, and the social connectivity that social software, and increased flexibility [30]–[32]. However, al-
networking platforms provide [28]. Storey et al. found in their though remote communication has become increasingly pop-
study that developers prefer to replace face-to-face discussions ular, some challenges arise.
with private chats when teams are distributed [27]. Layng et al. found in their 15-year survey of the litera-
Team communication platforms are changing how industry ture that virtual communication generates many interpersonal
developers communicate with one another. One news outlet challenges in teams [30]. These challenges involve communi-
has called Slack an “email killer” due to the reduced need to cation frequency and effectiveness, teammate trust, knowledge
send emails between team members [28]. Anders et al. found transfer, and coordination [30], [33].
in their study that adopting a team communication platform Communication is fundamental for building relationships
can have meaningful changes in individual and team collabo- and trust between individuals [34]. Members of teams located
ration and communication [28]. Though there are drawbacks in the same office space are more likely to have social inter-
to virtual communication. Storey et al. found developers felt actions outside of the office; therefore building relationships
distracted by the constant stream of notifications [27]. There and trust in each other. However, virtual teammates cannot
was also a rise in miscommunication and information fragmen- join in in-person social activities and instead rely on virtual
tation between communication channels and an overabundance communication methods to build trust with their teammates.
of information for developers [27]. Face to face communication allows for persons to provide
nonverbal cues that build trust between the team, which are
C. Student Team Project Communication unavailable in text-based virtual communication channels [33].
SE team projects are valuable learning experiences for Previous research suggests that remote teams should create
students who have no prior practical experience. Since these trust by engaging in virtual water cooler conversations and
projects are important to shape inexperienced developers, there utilizing video conferencing methods at least two weeks before
is a large body of literature on the topic. Team projects teach the project start date [30].
students different skills they will utilize in industry, such as Communication for virtual teams is often less frequent
teamwork, communication, and scheduling. To make these than that of in-person teams [30]. Continuous communication
projects as industry-related as possible, some universities team between teammates is required to resolve conflicts and avoid
up with industry partners to come up with real problems for teammate confrontations or miscommunication [35]. Without
students to solve. However, most universities do not have the clear communication guidelines or schedules, team members
resources to include industry projects in their classrooms but become silent, causing disastrous team conditions such as frus-
allow students to use industry-level communication tools. tration or miscommunication [30]. These conditions negatively
Seppala et al. conducted a study to determine what tools affect teammate trust and coordination and can cause project
student SE teams were choosing to use for communication failure if not remedied quickly. Multiple studies found that
and sharing information between members [29]. They found businesses were using multiple communication channels for
that face-to-face communication between members was the their virtual teams such as email, instant messaging, and video

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conferencing to reduce this miscommunication [30]. These comparing industry and academic software utilization, we
channels should also be chosen based on the team’s tasks to will make recommendations for future academic courses to
reduce miscommunication and confusion further. implement remote communication to prepare students for
Overall, frequent communication and teammate trust are future remote developer roles. We will also make feature
essential for projects with virtual teams to be successful. Key recommendations to software companies based on the requests
challenges in remote communication involve building trust gathered from current developers and students.
between teammates, maintaining frequent communication,
coordinating tasks, and communicating effectively. Previous B. Methodology
studies have suggested setting communication ground rules This subsection describes the proposed methodology to
to mitigate these issues and start using video-conferencing answer the research questions from the previous subsection.
mechanisms to build trust between team members [30], [35]. We plan to recruit two groups of participants, one made up
of industry developers and the other undergraduate students in
IV. P ROPOSED S TUDY D ESIGN academia, through social media advertisements.
In this section, we describe our research questions and The information gathered from student and industry de-
proposed methodology for studying remote collaboration tools. velopers will be divided across multiple phases. First, we
will gather preliminary information from surveys, and then
A. Research Questions
we will conduct semi-structured interviews to get a more
The objective of this proposal is to evaluate the communi- in-depth discussion about current collaboration practices in
cation tools used by industry and student teams, to determine academia and industry. All surveys will be pilot-tested before
how productive the teams are, the effectiveness of their com- distribution online. The advertisements for both student and
munication, and personal perceptions toward using software industry developers will include the survey to gain knowledge
for communication in place of face-to-face meetings. The about their communication software. The survey will contain
main question we want to begin to answer is are online and instructions at the end to contact members of the research team
hybrid classes preparing students for future remote software to schedule an optional semi-structured interview.
developer roles? The advertisements for undergraduate college students will
Therefore, we ask the following research questions: include a survey to complete student status questions and
RQ1 What communication tools are currently being used their experience with teamwork and online learning. The
by industry? surveys will include a mix of multiple-choice and short answer
RQ2 What communication tools are used by student questions. The students’ survey answers will help us answer
teams? RQ2 and RQ3 and RQ4 from the student perspective. We
RQ3 What do teams define as effective communication will ask preliminary questions such as class level, university
while working remotely? attended, programming experience, course delivery method,
RQ4 How can we get student developer communication and major. To ensure that our student respondents have basic
tools to be more reflective of industrial development programming knowledge, we will include a simple snippet
while still staying learning-centric? of code for the students to analyze and answer questions
The rationale behind RQ1 is to determine the current tools after the preliminary student-status questions. The students
being used by industry development teams. Once we know will then answer questions related to their remote education
the tools used in industry, we can compare and contrast them group project experiences, such as what communication tools
with the tools found in RQ2 to determine which ones have were used by their team, their personal feelings about the
overlapping utilization in academia and industry. communication tools, their ability to communicate with their
RQ3 aims to determine if SE student teams can communi- team members effectively, and their thoughts on the team’s
cate effectively when using online communication tools. This overall communication effectiveness. At the end of the survey,
question will explore how well teams communicate virtually, students will be instructed to contact a member of the research
leading to RQ4 , which will investigate how academic uses of team to schedule an optional interview. The interviewer will
communication software differ from uses in industry. These ask questions such as how the student teams use collaboration
questions aim to determine if teams communicate effectively, tools, their feelings on communication with teammates, and
their feelings related to team project virtual communication, any ideas to improve the communication and collaboration
and their thoughts on face-to-face meetings instead of using software for future student teams.
communication software. Additionally, these questions will For the industry developer surveys, there will be a mix of
help the community better understand the differences between multiple-choice and short answer questions about the devel-
remote work and remote education so that we are able to oper’s current position, collaboration tools, feelings pertaining
improve the education of our students for industry careers. to the use of collaboration tools, effectiveness level of the
By exploring academic and industry remote communication tools for development roles, and overall thoughts on how well
methods, we can gain greater knowledge about remote com- the tools are used in team communication. The developers’
munication utilization’s strengths and weaknesses to further survey answers will help us determine the current tools used by
our understanding of classroom and industry standards. By industry to answer RQ1 . The developer will then schedule an

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optional appointment with a member of the research team for V. L IMITATIONS AND T HREATS TO VALIDITY
an interview to delve further into their thoughts and feelings Similar to all research, there are limitations to how this
on the collaboration tools used in their development team, study was designed. First, due to distributing our survey on
which will help us answer RQ3 and RQ4 from the developers’ social media platforms, responses will be limited to students
perspective. The interviewer will ask questions such as how and developers who have access to social media platforms such
the developers use the tools for collaboration if there are as LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, etc. Second, student
different tools for different tasks, their feelings on how well surveys and interviews may be completed during the course
they communicate with their team, and any improvements they project or after their course project is completed. Therefore,
wish they could have within their communication software. some students may be answering questions post-course and
may have forgotten their feelings toward the communication
C. Data Collection software. Other students may only have early impressions
of the communication software and have not formed solid
Our data collection will include the participants’ demo- opinions due to lack of usage. Third, since respondents are
graphics, programming experience, occupation and education self-selecting to answer our survey questions, non-response
level, and information about their virtual team communication and volunteer bias may also skew our results. Furthermore,
methods. Our interviews with students and industry developers respondents could cause unintentional bias due to their previ-
will be held via video conferencing software or phone call and ous work or university-related experiences.
recorded for referral, coding, and transcription. In addition, we
are exploring the idea of data mining communication tools, VI. C ONCLUSION
such as Slack, to understand communication within teams. This idea paper presented a proposed evaluation of various
communication tools used by industry and student teams and
D. Participants team productivity, communication effectiveness, and feelings
toward using communication software instead of in-person
By posting our advertisements on social media platforms, meetings. We also presented a plan to investigate further
we aim to gather information from a diverse group of students industry developers’ communication tools to compare with the
and developers from a wide variety of colleges and companies. tools being used in academia. With our findings, we will make
We plan to recruit undergraduate SE student participants by recommendations to both academia and industry usage of
posting survey advertisements on popular social media outlets communication tools to further improve remote team commu-
such as Reddit and Twitter to acquire a sample from multiple nication effectiveness. As a community, we will also improve
colleges. To ensure those who respond to our survey have a communication tools based on our interviews with industry
technological background, we will include code snippets for and student developers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
the respondents to analyze and answer questions. future of work has shifted faster than predicted, and to better
We will also recruit developers from industry by posting our prepare students for future remote industry roles, we need a
advertisement on social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and greater understanding of industry standards. Our findings will
Reddit. To ensure those who respond are actual developers, we shed new light on industry developers’ communication tools,
will also have a code snippet question included in the survey. and our comparison with the current tools used by students
To recruit developers for the interview portion of our study, we will lead to tool recommendations for academic adoption to
will include instructions within the survey to contact a member help instructors better prepare their students for future industry
of the research team to set up an interview appointment. careers. Therefore, if we prepare students for remote roles
that are becoming increasingly popular (such as positions at
Stack Exchange, GitLab , GitHub, etc.), they will have a
E. Analysis
significant advantage in finding software engineering careers
After completing all surveys and interviews, we will com- of the future. We would like to receive as much feedback as
pile and conduct a thematic analysis using open coding on all possible from the software engineering research community
of the responses to determine common themes within the data. on the proposed research. We welcome researchers, teachers,
Coding the responses will give an overview of how frequently and software engineers looking to collaborate on this work.
specific tools are used for certain collaborative activities such
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