15 th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training Foundation Software Engineering Practices for Capstone Projects and Beyond Annegret Goold and Peter Horan School of Computing and Mathematics Deakin University Melbourne and Geelong Australia

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 2 Introduction  Foundation practices required for effective studies and for later life  Our curriculum  The first-year SE course and its enhancements  Evaluation of the course over a number of years  Group behaviour in the capstone course  Some implications for teaching and further research

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 3 The need for foundation practices  Industry expectations of graduates – skills and knowledge in  Problem solving  Communication – verbal, presentation, written and interpersonal  Critical thinking  Working within a team  Time management/ project management  Capstone projects expose students to a variety of experiences in these areas – but can they cope?

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 4 Curriculum development  Framework  Three year undergraduate degree (24 courses)  Twelve courses as core  Majors in Computer science, Info. systems and Multimedia technology  Software Engineering – minimum of 3 courses  Philosophy of the SE Courses  Our definition ‘the application of engineering to software development’  Developing a software solution not just writing software  A disciplined process

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 5 Concept Map of Software Engineering

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 6 Analysis of the Concept Map  Problem solving – theory as well as practice  Working in groups – theory and an awareness of group dynamics  Writing software involves group processes, especially communication  How best to teach this? 1.Lecture and private study 2.Project work in groups

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 7 Concept Map of Software Development

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 8 Skills and Software Development

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 9 Introductory Software Engineering

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 10 Undergraduate Programme at First Year

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 11 Course Details  Lectures  Working in teams  Software development processes  Problem Solving  Tutorials  Groups of 4 or 5 allocated by staff  Assignments and team building activities  Presentations  Assessment  Examination and assignments (both 50%)  Minimum 60% for group work to ‘pass’

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 12 Group Work and Assignments  All have a SE focus but emphasis is on process, successful group work and presentation  Some examples –  Personal styles assessment  Research of SE topics  Interview of a user (usability)  Writing a proposal  Project management activities  Evaluation of user manuals (for quality)  Evaluation of problem-solving software

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 13 Assignment Cover Sheet

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 14 Enhancements to our Course  Continuous improvement  Closer connection between lecture theory and tutorial work  Use of industry standards and practice  Visual Basic component removed  Guest lecturers  Improvement in assessment of individuals

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 15 Evaluation Responses

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 16 The Capstone course  Undertaken in last semester of programme  Combines all areas of previous study  Opportunity to work on ‘real-life’ software development projects  Strong emphasis on group work  ‘Real’ client with staff as supervisor

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 17 Changes to the Capstone course  Larger teams  Sub-teams in specialisations  Greater emphasis on project management activities  Greater emphasis on presentation Staff consensus: Students had ‘better’ skills in communication (verbal, written, presentation, interpersonal); working in a team and (perhaps) problem solving.

CSEE & T 2002School of Computing and MathematicsSlide 18 Conclusions  Our first-year SE course  Emphasis on group process and the learning environment  Less technical content but solid grounding in practices  Smooth ‘transition’ to other courses and to industry (?)  Implications for teaching practice  Research directions