Using Live-Thru Case Histories to Motivate and Teach Software Engineering to Computer Science Students

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Software Engineering (34)We have devised a novel pedagogic methodology, Live-Thru Case Histories, for motivating and teaching Software Engineering. Computer Science students are often excited about learning technology (State of the Art), but uninterested in its critically-necessary adjunct, software development process (variously known as Software Engineering, State of the Practice, or Best Practice). Our methodology brings undergraduate Computer Science students to the realization that without an appropriate appreciation for and facility in using State of the Practice, they are likely to fail, not in their course work, but in the real-world software development projects to which they are planning to devote their careers. We have conducted a pilot study in a Senior Project/Software Engineering course, and have obtained, and published, encouraging results. A publisher who read our results has approached us, unsolicited, with a request to develop additional Live-Through Case History materials. Colleagues at Rutgers, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Michigan Dearborn and University of Maryland University College have agreed to use Live-Thru Case Histories. Members of our team include: a former Vice President of AT&T with thirty-five years of experience performing and managing industrial and governmental software development; a technology researcher with twenty-seven years experience teaching computer science and performing and supervising research sponsored by such organizations as NSF, DOE, and IBM Research; a psychologist whose specialty is the development and assessment of educational programs; and a political scientist whose specialties include web-based outcomes assessment and the design and analysis of surveys.