Improving Embedded System Education with Software Engineering Methodologies

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Engineering - Electrical (55)The project is exploring a unique education paradigm that systematically integrates software engineering practice into a series of embedded systems courses. It addresses the need to educate students in using software engineering methods in complex embedded software projects, a topic that is not addressed adequately in either software or embedded systems courses. The project involves introductory-, intermediate- and advanced-level embedded systems courses. The most important software engineering methods appropriate to each level are introduced in the corresponding course and the software engineering practices are integrated into the course laboratories and projects. Commonly used software engineering tools will be introduced along with embedded systems development environments. The project will improve student learning and teaching effectiveness in both areas. Furthermore, a short course abstracted from the materials is benefiting other engineering disciplines that develop domain-specific embedded systems. The teaching materials are being designed so that they can be re-organized to serve students and engineers from other disciplines to meet their need for training in Software Engineering. The evaluation effort, under the guidance of an expert from the campus's institute for studies of education, is using validated sample survey instruments, institutional data on achievement and growth, focus groups, and individual interviews to monitor the project's effectiveness, impact, and unexpected outcomes. Investigators are disseminating their methods and results through their website, journal and conference venues, and specialty outlets, including the Shared-Software Infrastructure Program and the Field-tested Learning Assessment Guide. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the material, including their assessment tools, and their outreach to other engineering disciplines.