Session F1F

Panel - Assessing the Impact of the SE2004 Curriculum Guidelines

Richard J. LeBlanc 1, Ann E.K. Sobel 2, Donald J. Bagert 3, and Stephen T. Frezza4
Abstract - The software engineering curriculum guidelines developed by ACM and the IEEE Computer Society, known as SE2004, have been available to the software engineering education community for a little over two years. During this time, a number of software engineering degree programs have been established and others have been revised in ways influenced by SE2004. The goal of this session is to examine the impact that SE2004 has had so far and disseminate lessons learned by those who have worked with these curriculum recommendations. Index Terms Software engineering, assessment, curriculum guidelines, undergraduate education. BACKGROUND The software engineering curriculum guidelines, known as SE2004 [1], are part of the IEEE-CS/ACM Computing Curricula effort that began in the fall of 1998 with the goal of providing guidance to academic institutions and accreditation agencies about what should constitute an undergraduate education in computing. Foundation work for SE2004 began in 1998 with the Software Engineering Education Project (SWEEP) that produced a draft set of accreditation guidelines for software engineering. In the fall of 2001, SWEEP was replaced by the Steering Committee for the Computing Curricula Software Engineering Volume. Initial Steering Committee work included the development of a process plan, a set of guiding principles, and a set of curriculum outcomes. The SE2004 development process proceeded in two distinct, overlapping stages: specifying the core knowledge and preparing curriculum guidelines. The Education Knowledge Area group was responsible for defining and documenting a software engineering body of knowledge appropriate for guiding the development of undergraduate software engineering curricula. The Pedagogy Focus group was responsible for using the software engineering education knowledge to formulate guidance for pedagogy, and course and curriculum design to support undergraduate software engineering degree programs. Their work embodies the two main components of SE2004: the undergraduate software engineering education knowledge (SEEK) which defines what every graduate of a software engineering program should know and a variety of curriculum models that demonstrate
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how this material can be organized in the design of software programs for various institutional environments. OVERALL OBJECTIVE The primary objective of the session is to increase awareness of SE2004 among potential users and highlight potential challenges in applying these curriculum guidelines in various academic contexts. Two of the panel participates have the support of the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society to assess the impact of SE2004. To this end, they are gathering information from those software engineering curricula developers who have used SE2004 in the process of developing or modifying curricula to provide a comprehensive picture of current SE2004 applications. Two particular SE2004 applications, Gannon University and Rose-Hulman, will be featured by the other panelists. This session is important to the entire software engineering community in that it supports the future evolution of the Software Engineering Volume. The data gathered is not only valuable for assessment but to individuals who seek direction in ways to use the SE2004 effectively. Attendees should leave with a good understanding of recently designed software engineering curricula and how the designs of these curricula were influenced by SE2004. They should be able to take advantage of the lessons learned by the developers of these curricula for using the curriculum recommendations in the contexts of their SE or other computing programs. SESSION OUTLINE The session will consist of four parts: 1. A brief overview of content of SE2004, with a specific focus on the curriculum-related sections. 2. A presentation of a summary of the findings regarding how SE2004 has influenced the development of new software engineering programs and the modification of existing programs (in software engineering and other computing disciplines). This presentation will particularly highlight the ways in which the academic structure and mission of an

Richard J. LeBlanc, Georgia Institute of Technology, rich@cc.gatech.edu Ann E.K. Sobel, Miami University, sobelae@muohio.edu 3 Donald J. Bagert, Southeast Missouri State University, dbagert@semo.edu 4 Stephen T. Frezza, Gannon University, frezza@gannon.edu

1-4244-1084-3/07/$25.00 2007 IEEE October 10 13, 2007, Milwaukee, WI 37th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference F1F-1

Session F1F
institution or program might influence recommendations in SE2004 are applied. how the University. She was co-chair of the SE2004 Steering Committee and chair of its Software Engineering Education Knowledge (SEEK) group. She received her PhD in computer science from the Ohio State University. Her research interests include formal methods, software engineering, and computing education. Donald J. Bagert is a Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where he also holds the title of Director of Software Engineering. Dr. Bagert is a past CSEE&T steering committee chair, a past chair of the IEEE-CS Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) Certification Committee, a member of both the Educational Activities Board and the Professional Practices Committee for the IEEE Computer Society, a member of the IEEE-USA Licensure and Registration Committee, and is a Senior Member of IEEE. Stephen T. Frezza is an associate professor in the Computer and Information Science Department at Gannon University. His research interests include automatic schematics generation, automated software testing, and the relationship between engineering and theology. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) and a member of the IEEE, the ACM, and the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. REFERENCES
[1] Software Engineering 2004 (SE2004): Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering, A Volume of the Computing Curricula Series, IEEE Computer Society Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-7695-2350-1.

3. Presentations by two software engineering curriculum developers, namely Donald Bagert and Stephen Frezza, describing the influences of SE2004 on the development of their undergraduate software engineering degree programs. 4. A discussion/question session intended to provide more detail in areas of greatest interest to the audience. At the end of the session, we will circulate a questionnaire that will focus on determining how the presenters could assist academicians who wish to use SE2004 for their curriculum development. Our goal, as well as that of the ACM and the IEEE Computer Society, is to support the use of SE2004 and this activity would be of great benefit towards meeting this goal. BIOGRAPHIES OF THE PARTICIPANTS Richard J. Leblanc Jr., a professor in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, was cochair of the SE2004 Steering Committee. His research interests include computing education and software engineering. He received his PhD in computer sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the ACM Education Board and is currently a member of the ACM Education Council. He is also a member of IFIP Working Group 3.2 (Informatics and ICT in Higher Education). Ann E. K. Sobel is an associate professor in the Computer Science and Systems Analysis Department of Miami

1-4244-1084-3/07/$25.00 2007 IEEE October 10 13, 2007, Milwaukee, WI 37th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference F1F-2