Foundational actions: teaching software engineering when time is tight

Often Software Engineering courses approach educating undergraduates in good processes and practices by using a simulated product development environment, following all of the steps for product development in a single semester. Some also create multisemester projects to improve the student experience. We are in the group using multi-semester projects, but our approach differs in that we have only a single semester of project work per team, focused on the core actions used in all processes from waterfalls to XP. We call this foundational actions. Using industrial tools, processes, and evaluation methods, the students develop and integrate components of a well-specified, but major product. Emphasis is placed on teamwork, communication, and ultimately, working production code created with the foundational actions. The approach has also spun off related independent study opportunities for advanced students and even non-CS majors. Category and Subject Descriptors D.2.9 [Management]: Life C...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ITICSE
• Authors: Jerry Boetje
• Keywords: Foundational Actions, ITICSE 2006, Single Semester, Software Engineering