Systematic Review of UML Diagramming Software Tools for Higher Education Software Engineering Courses

The Unified Modelling Language (UML) is a set of graphical notations underpinned by a single meta-model that aid in the description and design of software systems. Learning to draw UML diagrams is an important objective of higher education (HE) software engineering (SE) courses. To this end, UML diagramming software tools can facilitate the application of the UML notation in drawing complex diagrams collaboratively between students. Numerous UML diagramming tools are available on the market nowadays, which makes it difficult for academics and students to choose the best tool for their needs, and no thorough evaluation of such tools for education is available. This project conducted a systematic review of UML diagramming tools that are freely available or available for a trial, from the point of view of meeting desirable diagramming and collaboration features for use in HE SE courses. This paper presents the methodology and results of this systematic review, before concluding on the best tools overall and for different features, and proposing a set of guidelines for the design of better UML diagramming tools for HE SE courses.