Adaptation to Alternative Environments

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Chapter 7: Adaptation to Alternative Environments

Software engineering curricula do not exist in isolation. They are found in institutions; and these

institutions have differing environments, goals, and practices. Software engineering curricula

must be able to be delivered in a variety of fashions and to be part of many different types of

institutions.

There are two main categories of "alternative" environments that will be discussed in this

section. The first is the alternative teaching environment. These environments use non-standard

delivery methods. The second is the alternative institutional environment. These institutions

differ in some significant fashion from the usual university.

7.1

Alternative Teaching Environments

As higher education has become more universal, the standard teaching environment has tended

toward an instructor in the front of a classroom. Although some institutions still retain limited

aspects of a tutor-student relationship, the dominant delivery method in most higher education

today is classroom type instruction. The instructor presents material to a class using lecture or

lecture/discussion presentation techniques. The lectures may be augmented by appropriate

laboratory work. Class sizes range from fewer than 10 to more than 500.

Instruction in the computing disciplines has been notable because of the large amount of

experimentation with delivery methods. This may be the result of the instructors' familiarity with

the capabilities of technology. It may also be the result of the youthfulness of the computing

disciplines. Regardless of the cause, there are numerous papers in the SIGCSE Bulletin, in the

proceedings of the CSEE&T (Conference on Software Engineering Education & Training)

conferences, in the proceeding of the FIE (Frontiers in Education) conferences, and in similar

forums, that recount significant modifications to the conventional lecture and lecture/discussion-

based classrooms. Examples include all laboratory instruction, and the use of electronic

whiteboards and tablet computers, problem based learning, role-playing, activity based learning,

and various studio approaches that integrate laboratory, lecture, and discussion. As has been

mentioned elsewhere in this report, it is imperative that experimentation and exploration be a

part of any software engineering curriculum. Necessary curriculum changes are difficult to

implement in an environment that does not support experimentation and exploration. A software

engineering curriculum will rapidly become out of date unless there is a conscious effort to

implement regular change.

Much recent curricular experimentation has focused on "distance" learning. The term is not well

defined. It applies to situations where students are in different physical locations during a

scheduled class. It also applies to situations where students are in different physical locations and

there is no scheduled class time. It is important to distinguish between these two cases. It is also

important to recognize other cases as well, for example the situation where students cannot

attend regularly scheduled classes.

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7.1.1

Students at different physical locations

Instructing students at different physical locations is a problem that has several solutions. Audio

and video links have been used for many years, and broadband Internet connections are less

costly and more accessible. Instructor-student interaction is possible after all involved have

learned how to manage the technology without confusion. Two-way video makes such

interaction almost as natural as the interaction in a self-contained classroom. On-line databases

of problems and examples can be used to further support this type of instruction. Web resources,

email, and Internet chat can provide a reasonable instructor "office hour" experience.

Assignments can be submitted by email or by using a direct Internet connection. The current

computing literature and departmental Web sites contain numerous descriptions of "distance

learning" techniques.

It should be noted that a complete solution to the problem of delivering courses to students in

different locations is not a trivial matter and any solution that is designed will require significant

planning and appropriate additional support. Some may argue that there is no need to make

special provision for added time and support costs when one merely increases the size of an

existing class by adding some "distance" students. Experience indicates that this is always a very

poor idea.

Students in software engineering programs need to have experience working in teams. Students

who are geographically isolated need to be accommodated in some fashion. It is unreasonable to

expect that a geographically separated team will be able to do all of its work using email, chat,

blogs, and newsgroups. Geographically separated teams need additional monitoring and support.

Videoconferencing and teleconferencing should be considered. Instructors may also want to

schedule some meetings with the teams, if distances make this feasible. Beginning students

require significantly more monitoring than advanced students because of their lack of experience

with geographically separated teams.

One other problem with geographically diverse students is the evaluation of student

performance. Appropriate responsible parties will need to be found to proctor examinations and

check identities of examinees. Care should be taken to insure that evaluation of student

performance is done in a variety of ways. Placing too much reliance on one method (e.g., written

examinations) may make the evaluations unreliable.

7.1.2

Students in class at different times

Some institutions have a history of providing instruction to "mature" students who are employed

in a full-time job. Because of their work obligations, employed students are often unable to

attend regular class meetings. Videotaped lectures, copies of class notes, and electronic copies of

class presentations are all useful tools in these situations. A course Web site, a class newsgroup,

and a class distribution list can provide further support.

There is also instruction that does not have any scheduled class meetings. Self-scheduled and

self-paced classes have been used at many institutions. Classes have also been designed to be

completely "Web-based." Commercial and open-source software has been developed to support

many aspects of self-paced and Web-based courses. Experience shows that the development of

self-paced and Web-based instructional materials is very expensive and very time consuming.

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Students who do not have scheduled classroom instruction will still need team activities and

experiences. Many of the comments made above about geographically diverse teams will also

apply to them. An additional problem is created when students are learning at wildly different

rates. Because different students will cover content at different times, it is not feasible to have

content instruction and projects integrated in the same unit. Self-paced project courses are

another serious problem. It will be difficult to coordinate team activities when different team

members are working at different paces.

7.2

Curricula for Alternative Institutional Environments

7.2.1

Articulation problems

Articulation problems arise when students have taken one set of courses at one institution or in

one program and need to apply these to meet the requirements of a different institution and/or

program.

If software engineering curricula existed in isolation, there would be no articulation problems.

But this is rarely the case. Software engineering programs exist in universities with multiple

colleges, schools, divisions, departments, and programs. Software engineering programs exist in

universities that cooperate and compete with other universities and institutions. Some secondary

schools offer university-level instruction, and students expect to receive appropriate credit and

placement. Satisfactory completion of a curriculum must be certified when the student has taken

classes in different areas of the university as well as at other institutions. Software engineering

programs must be designed and managed so that articulation problems are minimized. This

means that the internal and external environment at the institution must be considered when

designing a curriculum.

7.2.2

Coordination with other university curricula

Many of the core classes in a software engineering curriculum could also be core classes in

another curriculum. An introductory computer science course could be required for the curricula

in computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering. Certain architecture

courses might be part of curricula in computer science, computer engineering, software

engineering, and electrical engineering. Mathematics courses could be required for curricula in

mathematics, computer science, software engineering, and computer engineering. A project

management course may be required by software engineering and management information

systems. Upper level software engineering courses could be taken as part of computer science or

computer engineering programs. In most universities, there will be pressure to have courses do

"double duty" whenever possible.

Courses that are a part of more than one curriculum must be carefully designed. There is great

pressure to include everything of significance to all of the relevant disciplines. This pressure

must be resisted. It is impossible to satisfy everyone's desires. Courses that serve two masters

will inevitably have to omit topics that would be present were it not for the other master.

Curriculum implementers must recognize that perfection is impossible and impractical. The

minor content loss when courses are designed to be part of several curricula is more that

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compensated for by the experience of interacting with students with other ideas and background.

Indeed, a case can be made that such experiences are so important in a software engineering

curriculum that special efforts should be made to create courses common to several curricula.

7.2.3

Cooperation with other institutions

In today's world, students complete their university education via a variety of pathways. While

many students attend just one institution, there are substantial numbers who attend more than

one. For a wide variety of reasons, many students begin their baccalaureate degree program at

one institution and complete it at another. In so doing, students may change their career goals or

declared majors; may move from a liberal arts program to an engineering or scientific program;

may satisfy interim program requirements at one institution; may engage in work-related

experiences; or may be coping with financial, geographic, or personal constraints.

Software engineering curricula must be designed so that these students are able to complete the

program without undue delay and repetition, through recognition of comparable coursework and

aligned programs. It is straightforward to grant credit for previous work (whether in another

department, school, college, or university) when the content of the courses being compared is

substantially identical. There are problems, however, when the content is not substantially

similar. While no one wants a student to receive double credit for learning the same thing twice,

by the same token no one wants a student to repeat a whole course merely because a limited

amount of content topic was not covered in the other course. Faculty do not want to see a

student's progress unduly delayed because of articulation issues; therefore, the wisest criteria to

use when determining transfer and placement credit are whether the student can reasonably be

expected to 1) address any content deficiencies in a timely fashion and 2) succeed in subsequent

courses.

To the extent that course equivalencies can be identified and addressed in advance via an

articulation agreement, student interests will best be served. Many institutions have formal

articulation agreements with those institutions from which they routinely receive transfer

students. For example, such agreements are frequently found in the United States between

baccalaureate-degree granting institutions and the associate-degree granting institutions that send

them transfer students. Other examples can be seen in the 3-2 agreements in the United States

between liberal arts and engineering institutions; these agreements allow a student to take three

years at a liberal arts institution and two years at an engineering institution, receiving a Bachelor

of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree.

When formulating articulation agreements and designing curricula, it is important to consider

any accreditation requirements that may exist. An accredited program may only retain

accreditation for all its students if it can show that students entering from other institutions have

learned substantially similar material.

The European Credit Transfer System is another attempt to reduce articulation problems in that

continent.

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7.3

Programs for Associate-Degree Granting Institutions in the United

States and Community Colleges in Canada

In the United States, as many as one-half of baccalaureate graduates initiated their studies in

associate-degree granting institutions. For this reason, it is important to outline a software

engineering program of study that can be initiated in the two-year college setting, specifically

designed for seamless transfer into an upper-division (years 3 and 4) program. Regardless of

their skills upon entry into the two-year college, students must complete the coursework in its

entirety to well-defined competency points to ensure success in the subsequent software

engineering coursework at the baccalaureate level. For some students, this may require more

than two years of study at the associate level. But regardless of this, the goal is the same: to

provide a program of study that prepares the student for the upper level institution.

The following is a recommended software engineering program of study for implementation by

associate-degree granting institutions. Students who complete this program could reasonably

expect to transfer into the upper division program at the baccalaureate institution. Although

designed with the United States in mind, certain colleges in Canada and other countries may very

well be able to adopt a similar approach.

Proposed Software Engineering Technical Core for North American Community Colleges

For descriptions of the Computing courses and Mathematics courses listed below, see the report

titled Computing Curricula 2003: Guidelines for Associate-Degree Curricula in Computer

Science [ACM 2002].

Computing courses

The three-course sequence

CS101I Programming Fundamentals

CS102I The Object-Oriented Paradigm

CS103I Data Structures and Algorithms

Or the three-course sequence

CS101O Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

CS102O Objects and Data Abstraction

CS103O Algorithms and Data Structures

SE201-int Introduction to Software Engineering for Software Engineers

Institutions may also elect to create a software engineering curriculum based on the SE-

specific courses (SE101, SE102, CS103, SE200) outlined in Chapter 6 of this report

Mathematics courses

CS105 Discrete Structures I

CS106 Discrete Structures II

The following are to articulate with typical university requirements, and do not cover

core SEEK material

Calculus I

Calculus II

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See also the baccalaureate institution for requirements; some institutions may require

linear algebra or differential equations.

Laboratory Science courses

Two courses in lab science for articulation with most baccalaureate programs.

Recommended: Two physics courses, or one physics plus one chemistry course.

General Education

Students also complete first-year and second-year General Education requirements, along

with software engineering technical core.

7.3.1

Special programs

Because software engineering is such a new discipline, there is a significant demand for certain

types of special programs. Some people want to "retrain" in a new field. Others already have a

degree in a related field and want a "post-graduate diploma" in software engineering. The

curricula for such programs must take into account the previous education of the students as well

as their career goals.

It would be foolish to attempt to cram a whole undergraduate curriculum in software engineering

into a short retraining program or a one-year post-graduate program. Such an effort does not

serve the needs of these students. These programs are best when they have appropriate entrance

standards that require at least some practical experience. When this is the case, the students are

usually highly motivated. Such students are able to have their experience serve as a reasonable

substitute for some of the content that would normally be a part of an undergraduate curriculum.

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