Models for Undergraduate Project Courses in Software Engineering
Review paper for curriculum design workshop, MIT Endicott House, January 1991, pp. 33-71
KeyWords:software engineering education,software engineering
The software engineering course provides undergraduates with an opportunity
to learn something about real-world software development. Since
software engineering is far from being a mature engineering discipline, it is not
possible to define a completely satisfactory syllabus. Content with a sound basis
is in short supply, and the material most often taught is at high risk of becoming
obsolete within a few years.
Undergraduate software engineering courses are now offered in more than a
hundred universities. Although three textbooks dominate the market, there is not
yet consensus on the scope and form of the course. The two major decisions an
instructor faces are the balance between technical and management topics and
the relation between the lecture and project components. We discuss these two
decisions, with support from sample syllabi and survey data on course offerings in
the United States and Canada. We also offer some advice on the management of
a project-oriented course.
Preferred citation: Mary Shaw and James E. Tomayko, Models for undergraduate project courses in software engineering, Proceedings of the Fifth SEI Conference on Software Engineering Education, Springer-Verlag, 1991, pp. 33-71.
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