Exploring the communication behavior among global software development learners.

This study examines communication behaviors in global software learning teams. Using a coding scheme developed in previous research [11], the paper characterizes the types of communication behaviors that occur when student teams are engaged in a software development project. We report on the results of two sets of pilot projects; one with students residing in England and the United States, and a second with students located in Turkey, Panama, and the United states. Through content analysis we identify distinct patterns of interactions and examine how these patterns are associated with task, culture, or performance. Our results suggest that communication patterns among global software learners may be related to task type, culture and levels of performance. It is hoped that these findings will provide a basis for selecting intervention strategies that can either maximize or minimize the factors that affect successful communication