Intertac Software Architecture

This paper describes the development of a groupware system from the requirements developed through researching the activities of software enginering students who were developing specification reports in groups. The specification is designed for an imaginary, but realistic, client. The groupware was developed to enable these groups to meet more often in non-collocated sessions. A list of requirements that were developed for the basic application software are presented here, together with the Architecture and Interface. The groupware is designed as a Constructivist and Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) so the first aim is to provide a flexible and unstructured learning environment in which students can construct their own meaning. On top of this can be placed agents to provide assistance and feedback to improve aspects of this learning. This paper looks at the first part of this process, developing the environment with a component-based architecture to which agents can readily be integrated. Also brief summary of the agent support is provided, with a plan for future verification of the final system when complete.