Abstract:

The methodologies for software development usually designated as engineering methodologies, exists for long time. Currently called traditional software development methodologies are very bureaucratic, in what documentation and rigid control mechanisms is concerned, making it difficult to applying them to different software development projects. In the last years, new methodologies appear calling for agile or lightweight that are making headway into the software industry. The agile processes, unlike the traditional processes, are adaptable and receptive to change and may evolve with change, modifying their processes. Another issue of these methodologies is that they are oriented to the people rather than only to processes. Meanwhile, software packages for educational purposes are increasingly important for classroom use, because, among others, they are a valuable way to motivate learning and to help students to develop key competencies. However, the resources available on the market, with the designation of educational software, often have dubious quality. Moreover, in what Education for Sustainable Development is concerned they are very scarce. In this contribution we present the methodology adopted for the development of an educational software package called Courseware Sere - The Human Being and Natural Resources. The courseware will also be described. Courseware Sere was designed to be used in the classroom with students of the 1st and 2nd basic education cycles and has the following objectives: to promote the understanding of the impact that the human activity has in the natural resources and to understand that the future of mankind will necessary imply a more responsible attitude towards the currently used energy sources (mainly oil and forest resources). The courseware development was based on assumptions of the UCD (User Centered Design): constitution of a multidisciplinary team with various skills, such as DS (Didactic of Science), (ET) Educational Technology, Project Management, Design, Programming and Usability. The evaluation of the courseware played also a central role throughout the development process. That evaluation aimed at identifying positive and/or negative perceptions, from a technical and didactic perspective, of experts, teachers and students. Suggestions to improve the package are also inquired. The methodology is also an object of the formative evaluation process since the methodology is being used in the context of a small software enterprise. That evaluation seeks to ensure that the enterprise can develop educational resources with recognized quality and that are simultaneously viable from the economical point of view. The developed methodology is based on four main steps: planning of didactic guidelines, storyboard design and evaluation, technical and didactic development and prototype evaluation. Formative evaluation of the methodology is being performed during all the process.

Keywords:

educational courseware, software development methodologies, user centered.