This innovative practice full paper describes the integration of Ph.D. students into departmental operations using Agile approaches, i.e., Serum, Serum is an agile framework originally developed for managing software development projects, but in recent years has been adapted into a framework used in classroom experiences and a management technique for non-engineering project-based work. In this work, Serum was adapted at the department operations level to enhance the efficacy of department projects and processes. A Ph.D. student acted as the Scrum Master for one of the teams. This provided the Ph.D. student with a unique experiential learning opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical setting, significantly enhancing their learning experience. The benefits for the Ph.D. student included the development of soft skills that made them a more well-rounded Ph.D. student and the creation of meaningful relationships with the faculty members on their team which increased their sense of belonging within the department. Additionally, the Ph.D. student gained insight into the intricacies of university operations, which is valuable training for a student who seeks a career in academia. This paper aligns with a desire to improve the experience of engineering and computing education of graduate students outside of the typical classroom and research domains.

This innovate-practice, work in progress paper presents a blueprint on the adoption of agile process in an academic engineering department. The blueprint offered in this paper can be used by engineering departments to introduce an agile approach in their teaching, research, and service activities. This paper provides a framework for using Scrum as it has been implemented in the EECS department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. For each of the common facets of academia, i.e., teaching, research, and service, we report on our experiences, lessons learned, and proposed approaches in adopting Scrum. Furthermore, we highlight the value added by integrating this Scrum approach, such as the increased marketability of students with agile experience, a greater accountability from students and faculty, and/or building a much stronger communities between faculty, and between faculty and students. We also discuss possible obstacles and required mitigations to facilitate adoption. Results of adopting agility in all three facets of the academic department will be reported, including how it benefits computing and engineering education and the academic department.

This innovate practice work in progress paper presents our initial findings about the application of agile process in the day to day operation of an academic department. The benefits of agile methods, which are processes that are lightweight and people-oriented, are well-known. Agile methods provide the ability to respond faster to the changing needs of stakeholders, improved product quality, team over individual goals, and better transparency. Therefore, one would expect adaption of the agile process within academic environment would be welcomed, however, unique issues exist within faculty that impact adoption; faculty have different goals that change through their tenure, and faculty have their own priorities that drive their time investment. For the last 18 months, the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has been involved in adopting the use of agile process in its day-to-day operations, namely Scrum, which is one type of Agile method. To assess the feasibility of departmental adaptation of agile process, we established two pilot projects to identify advantages and disadvantages such adaptation. In this paper we report on the outcome of the projects in addition to the observations, challenges, and opportunities regarding the adaptation of the agile processes in the day-to-day operation of an academic department.

In this paper, we explore the benefits of teaching heavyweight process life cycle models to young software engineering students to better prepare them in the use of agile methods. The benefits of agile methods compared to process-heavy models include the ability to respond faster to the changing needs of customers and the short feedback loop between customers and developers. Since agile methods depend significantly on the competence of the individual, teaching traditional approaches (e.g. waterfall) can be advantageous to the understanding of students about what the major activities associated with software development are, by providing a well-defined structure that naturally aligns with the novice student. Towards this goal, we conducted a survey with different types of software engineers, ranging from novice undergraduates to software engineering professionals. The survey provides data on the exposure of traditional and agile process, the level of experience in using traditional and agile process models, and the perceived most optimal learning sequence. Based on the analysis of the collected data, we argue that teaching traditional software engineering process-oriented approaches prior to introducing agile methods, is highly beneficial to students' understanding and optimal use of agile techniques.

There are advantages to retrieve information from the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). However, the UAV-WSN system has some differences with conventional WSN system. So it is important to design an appropriate scheme to control the transmission in a UAV-WSN system. In this paper we proposed a protocol called A-OAloha (Adaptive-Opportunistic Aloha) for UAV-UAV-WSN system to guarantee its efficiency. This protocol is based on a cross-layer design and is designed with the consideration of the distribution of the successful sensors, energy consumption and the transmission efficiency. For the distribution of the successful sensors, we design a mechanism based on the priority to make the distribution more uniform and the priority could be adaptively changed. For the consideration of energy-efficiency we choose to use the method that make the sensors go into sleep when they do not need to send data until a beacon signal from the UAV is received to transmit data. For the transmission efficiency we added a communication stage in every interval based on the O-Aloha scheme to enlarge the throughput under an acceptable system Bit Error Rate (BER).

Advances in engineering methods and technology, modern system complexity, and the need to work across cultures and multiple time zones have influenced significant change in the practice of engineering. The same cannot be said of engineering education. This paper describes the Digital Home case study project that covers full life-cycle development of a software product (project management, requirements analysis and specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance) that has been integrated throughout graduate and undergraduate curriculum. The paper will discuss some of our experiences gained during this project, followed by some guidelines on how this can be done at other schools.

The demand for additional engineering and computing degree graduates continue to increase [1, 2]; however, interest in pursuing these degrees is not matching the predicated demand. More specifically, attracting US students in engineering and computing field has always been a challenge; this is particularly true for female and minority students. Factors such as the "geek image", a demanding mathematical foundation, lack of "gee whiz" element early in the curriculum, and overall misconception about the career in these areas are all contributors to this problem. This paper describes some of our activities associated with the introduction of Computational Thinking (CT) concepts to middle and high schools. The central tenet of the project is to entice students in grade 6-12 to learn some fundamental and advance topics in engineering and computing field, thereby recognizing their own ability to understand the computing and engineering topics, and potentially recognizing their interest in such topics and potential further education and career in these fields.

Computational thinking (CT) does not require profound knowledge of computer science (CS). Vice versa, it helps students organize and build up new knowledge around the core CS concepts they encounter on the daily basis. Furthermore, CT provides a set of problem-solving skills and enhances analytical abilities that are crucial for the young generation to succeed in modern world pervaded with technology. Teaching the principles of computing to students with non-computing tracks of study provides them with a competitive advantage and breaks down stereotypes around CS. Our approach is to introduce a topic related to world issues and students' interests while concealing its relation to CS until students' interest and attention are captured. The approach takes advantage of pattern-matching abilities that are naturally wired in our brain to improve understanding and make the obtained knowledge persist in memory. The paper discusses some of the modules developed as part of the Inspire-CT project that can be delivered in one or part of a class period at high school or middle school.

This paper describes and advocates a focused approach to using inspections of software artifacts as an active learning technique in software engineering education. A central thesis is that one must “learn to read before they write” that is, you should read and study an existing software artifact, before you develop one. There is discussion of how software artifacts and supporting instructional materials from a Digital Home case study project can be used to support and guide software inspection exercises. These inspection exercises are designed to introduce students to realistic software engineering artifacts and involve them in rigorous examination of their contents. Instances of the use of software inspections to teach software engineering are described and analyzed: the experiences of students and instructors, what worked and what did not, and how this influenced the cases study project. The authors also outline a set of topics and courses in which software inspections might be used as a teaching tool throughout a computing curriculum.

This WIP discusses Inspire-CT, an NSF-funded, multi-institutional project that is exploring ways to share the excitement and engagement of advanced computing courses with pre-college and introductory undergraduate students. The discussion includes examples of initial educational activities and a summary of results, issues, and future plans.

Although many software engineering (SE) and computer science (CS) texts use case studies to explain the different concepts, these case studies tend to focus on a specific subject such as object oriented design and implementation or requirements analysis and specification. In addition, these case studies usually lack instructor guidelines on how to use the material in teaching these concepts. The Digital Home Case Study addresses these issues by providing a complete set of artifacts associated with software development, and an extensive set of case study exercises for teaching different topics in software engineering and computer science, as well as guidance for instructors on how to use these case modules. In this paper, we motivate the use of the case study approach in teaching SE and CS concepts. We provide a description of the Digital Home case study and the associated artifacts and case modules. We also report on our use of the developed material.

No abstract available.

The paper discusses the content and use of a comprehensive case study called the DigitalHome (DH) system. The DH system involves the development of ldquosmart houserdquo technology by a national retail chain serving the needs of home owners. Thus far, DH artifacts, scenarios and exercises have been developed. Thus DH case study has been used in an introductory software engineering course and in a graduate course in software architecture.

The paper argues for the use of the "case study" approach to educating and training software engineers. After discussing problems in software engineering education and introducing the fundamentals of case study teaching, the paper describes a project to develop a comprehensive and complete case study, called the DigitalHome (DH) system, which involves the development of "smart house" technology by a national retail chain serving the needs of home owners. Thus far the following has been developed: marketing documents, project launch material, a project plan, an SRS, and a set of scene-setting and problem-solving scenarios. The case study will eventually consist of a complete set of life-cycle artifacts, a realistic description of the people and events that are part of the DH development, and a set of exercises that are designed to involve students in the solutions of software engineering problems associated with the DH development.

Software plays an increasing role in the safety critical systems. Increasing the quality and reliability of the software has become the major objective of software development industry. Researchers and industry practitioners, look for innovative techniques and methodologies that could be used to increase their confidence in the software reliability. Fault tree analysis (FTA) is one method under study at the Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC) of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to determine its relevance to increasing the quality and the reliability of software. This paper briefly reviews some of the previous research in the area of software fault tree analysis (SFTA). Next we discuss a roadmap for application of the SFTA to software, with special emphasis on object-oriented design. This is followed by a brief discussion of the paradigm for transforming a software design artifact (i.e., sequence diagram) to its corresponding software fault tree. Finally, we discuss challenges, advantages and disadvantages of SFTA.

This tutorial proves an overview of software quality concepts, processes, and techniques, as related to the design and implementation of undergraduate computing curricula. It provides ideas and examples of how to incorporate and integrate software quality practices into such curricula.

This paper addresses a central and critical issue in the development of computer software - its quality. The main thesis of the paper is that computer science faculty, in their design and implementation of curricula, do not devote sufficient attention to teaching their students how to develop high-quality software. As in industry, the most common and popular way of assuring the quality of programs is through software testing. In other words, quality is treated as an afterthought or as postscript in program development. The paper presents and discusses a quality model that can be used to incorporate a wide variety of quality assurance techniques within a curriculum. The model also presents a structured approach for introducing software testing into the educational environment. Finally, there is a discussion of how the model has been implemented using two current software process technologies, the PSP and the TSP.

A new software engineering educational model is proposed in order to more efficiently close the gap between industry software engineering needs and academic software engineering education. The model is analogous to the medical school/teaching hospital curriculum model; it is based on academic/industry collaboration using a "Software Center" as the implementation mechanism. The Software Center will provide experiential learning for students, research opportunities for faculty, and cost effective software solutions for industry. The Center was established in the Computer Science Department of Embry-Riddle University, Daytona Beach, Florida in Spring, 1996, the first industrial project is underway. This paper elaborates on the new curriculum model, past experiences with the model and the first industrial project. The project is described in terms of its goals, industry partnership, team organization, procedures and standards and project deliverables.

In this paper, we describe PSP-DROPS (PSF Data RepOsitory and Presentation System), an automated Web-based tool to support teaching the Personal Software Process (PSP) technique, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. PSP is a disciplined personal software process used in software development. Last year, PSP was incorporated into our first two programming, courses (CS1 and CS2). Using PPS-DROPS, students can receive on-line instructions for recording, their data, which cuts down the work load of managing and analyzing process data. Most importantly, the analyzed result can be presented to the students graphically anywhere that has the World Wide Web, (WWW) access. The user friendly environment by PSP-DROPS facilitates and motivates the students to practice PSP for improving, their academic work.

This paper discusses the role of personal software process definition in the education of computing professionals and the importance of emphasizing quality in the development of software. After examining recent government and industry efforts in introducing and instituting effective software development processes, there is a description of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and Watts Humphrey's Personal Software Process (PSP) and its use in industry and academia. The rest of the paper reports on a recent project that introduced PSP concepts into CS1 and CS2. Project methods and activities are described and the results of the project are analyzed. Finally, future enhancements and extensions of the project are discussed.

article Free Access Share on Software engineering emphasis in advanced courses Authors: Massood Towhidnejad Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Oveida, FL Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Oveida, FLView Profile , James R. Aman Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH Wilmington College, Wilmington, OHView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGCSE BulletinVolume 28Issue 1March 1996 pp 210–213https://doi.org/10.1145/236462.236541Online:01 March 1996Publication History 4citation180DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations4Total Downloads180Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Modeling and simulation have always been highly useful techniques to use when designing, analyzing, or diagnosing an engineered system. Development of an appropriate model, in terms of accuracy, granularity, and complexity, has typically been the burden of the designer, analyst, or troubleshooter. It would naturally be advantageous if a model could be developed automatically, with the user supplying only some final minor refinements. The fact that most modern systems are designed in a computer-aided design (CAD) environment makes this a realistic prospect, because much of the data necessary for the model is already in electronic form. This article outlines a system called the automated knowledge generator (AKG), which embodies techniques that automatically create a model of an engineered system directly from its CAD representation, and describes the extensive testing process followed in order to validate its performance.>