一句话：通过14周Scrum毕业设计日记，揭示学生情绪触发因素与阶段差异，提出情绪感知教学环境设计。
软件工程毕业设计项目要求学生在真实客户、模糊需求和团队协作中交付软件，易引发情绪压力；但既有研究多关注短期个人编程任务。本文对3个Scrum团队24名学生14周反思日记进行主题分析，并以控制—价值理论解释情绪。结果显示，挫败感最常见，常由技术挑战、需求模糊和协调问题触发；希望、自豪与感激则与早期目标设定、克服困难、个人成长和支持有关。情绪模式随项目阶段变化，并呈现性别差异：男生更多将挫败和羞耻归因于技术失败，女生更多在团队动态与沟通中描述焦虑、感激和享受。研究强调设计情绪感知的毕业设计学习环境，以支持学生心理健康与动机。
In software engineering capstone projects, students collaborate in teams to deliver software solutions to real clients. This is often the first experience for many students in which they must collaborate, explore new technologies, navigate ambiguous requirements, and balance project demands alongside other academic responsibilities. These overlapping demands often lead to emotional strain. While prior research shows that emotions affect learning and motivation, most studies have focused on short-term, individual programming tasks rather than long-term, real-world projects. This study investigates the emotions students experience during a capstone project and explores the triggers associated with these emotional responses across project stages. We conducted a thematic analysis of reflective learning diaries written by 24 students from three Scrum teams over a 14-week course. The analysis was grounded in Control-Value Theory, which explains how students’ emotional experiences are shaped by their perceived control over tasks and the value they assign to them. Frustration emerged as the most frequently experienced emotion, often triggered by technical challenges, ambiguous requirements, and coordination issues. Positive emotions such as hope, pride, and gratitude were tied to early goal setting, overcoming challenges or reflections on personal growth and support. Emotional patterns varied across project phases, revealing shifts in affective engagement over time. We also observed gender-based differences: male students more often linked frustration and shame to technical failure, while female students described anxiety, gratitude, and enjoyment in connection with team dynamics and communication. Our findings highlight the importance of designing emotionally aware capstone learning environments that support students’ psychological well-being and motivation as they navigate the affective demands of real-world software engineering.
@inproceedings{paperbot12014,
title = {From Struggle to Success: Unveiling Students’ Emotional Journeys during Capstone Projects},
author = {Wardah Naeem Awan and Maria Paasivaara and Peter A. Gloor},
booktitle = {ICSE},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1145/3786580.3786964}
}