The Importance of Teaching Systematic Analysis for Conceptual Models: An Experience Report

In this paper, we report on our experience in teaching conceptual modeling at a master-level course at the University of Trento. We use our experiences to argue that systematic model analysis is an important factor that influences learning and understanding of conceptual modeling techniques. In particular, we have observed this effect with the i* goal-oriented language. In previous years students were required to perform only modeling as part of their projects, while in the last year they were also required to apply systematic analysis. We observe that i* analysis not only allows students to evaluate the satisfaction of goals in their model, but also to better understand their models, helping to refine models until they are more meaningful and more likely to fulfill their intended purpose.