A Groupware Laboratory for Software Engineering Education

直到最近，通过简单地在不同的计算机上放置各种工具并要求学生使用它们构建软件，就可以向学生介绍软件工程环境的相关概念。现在，行业中几乎普遍的做法是使用群件工具，这些工具允许并控制跨时间和空间分布的大型团队之间的软件工件共享。这个项目配备了这样一个群件实验室来支持中型到大规模的分布式软件开发。这种环境不能被学生在他们的家用电脑上模拟；部门的计算机实验室也不能配置为这种用途，因为强调通过使用集中软件远程访问工件。将群件活动集成到软件工程程序中，对于与学生的雇主位于同一城市的小型城市学院和大学来说尤为重要。这些项目因与行业实践保持一致而受到奖励，如果教学项目被认为与当地行业的实践严重脱节，那么这些项目的可信度将面临巨大风险。在这些同样的城市环境中，学生们通常不住在家里，因此他们会非常喜欢分布式的教学环境，这种环境允许他们以电子方式见面和工作。在工业中评估其生产力的软件工具解决了阻碍大型团队练习的学术项目的进度障碍。通过群件实验室，学生们体验了分布式软件开发环境的便利性和强大性。＊

Until recently, students could be introduced to the relevant concepts of software engineering environments by simply placing a variety of these tools on various computers and requiring students to build software with them. Now the nearly universal practice of industry is toward the use of groupware tools that allow and control the sharing of software artifacts among large teams spread over time and space. This project outfits such a groupware laboratory to support medium- to large-scale distributed software development. This environment cannot be emulated by students on their home computers; nor can the department's computer laboratory be configured for this use because of the emphasis on remote accessibility of artifacts through the use of centralized software. The integration of groupware activities into software engineering programs is particularly important for small, urban colleges and universities that are located in the same city as the employers of their students. These programs are rewarded for maintaining parity with industry practices and run great risks in credibility if the instructional program is observed to be seriously out of step with the practice of local industry. In these same urban settings, students are often nonresidential, and therefore they will greatly appreciate a distributed instructional environment that allows them to meet and work electronically. The very software tools that are to be assessed for their productivity in industry solve the scheduling impediment that has discouraged academic programs from large team exercises. Through the groupware laboratory, students experience the convenience as well as the power of distributed software development environments. *