A Comparative Case Study of Two Pedagogical Approaches in Web Development Education: From a Traditional Java Environment to a Modern Ruby on Rails Ecosystem

Abstract

This study presents a comparative case study of the evolution of a software development course at Kindai University. We analyze two distinct pedagogical ecosystems: a traditional course based on Java Servlet/JSP with a local integrated development environment (IDE), and its subsequent iteration, a modern course employing the Ruby on Rails framework (a Web Application Framework, or WAF), Git for version control, a cloud-based IDE, and Platform as a Service (PaaS) for deployment. This study was not a controlled experiment isolating the effects of a WAF but rather an exploratory analysis of how a shift in the entire toolchain impacted student outcomes and perceptions. Quantitative analyses of student projects over three years for each course revealed that the modern Ruby-based ecosystem resulted in applications with approximately 50% more screens and screen transitions, despite requiring approximately 40% less source code. Furthermore, student surveys indicated significantly higher comprehension and interest in the modern courses. However, the number of data models and user stories remained consistent, suggesting that upstream design thinking was less affected by the technology stack. These findings suggest that adopting a modern, integrated development ecosystem can foster a more productive and engaging learning experience. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for curriculum design, emphasizing the value of incorporating contemporary, industry-aligned toolchains into software engineering education, while acknowledging that the observed benefits stem from the synergistic effect of multiple technologies rather than from a single component.