SPA Conference session: Education for Engineers | |||
| One-line description: | How can we best design education programmes that prepare people to be effective software engineers in the modern world? | ||
| Session format: | Case Study / Workshop - 75mins [read about the different session types] | ||
| Abstract: | How can we best design education programmes that prepare people to be effective software engineers in the modern world? What do they need to learn? How can we teach these things? Can we use the same principles to develop effective training and development programmes for professionals? Many university degree programmes provide students with a solid grounding in the theoretical basis of computing, but it is difficult in a university environment to provide training in the types of software engineering techniques and practices, such as agile methods, that are commonly used in industrial development projects. There is typically a large gap between theoretical knowledge and practical experience. In this session we will first present how we have developed a programme that aims to bridge this gap, providing students with practical experience of relevant skills for industrial software engineering careers. We are aiming to create courses that are practical and industrially relevant, but built on the fundamentals of computer science and rigorous engineering. Taking inspiration from modern ideas on lean and continuous delivery, we tried to adapt the course to provide higher quality learning, and give more value to the time the students spent studying. In the second half of the session we will draw on the expertise and experience in the room to discuss the most important things for people to learn to work effectively in software development (either as students or during continuing professional development), and then use instructional design techniques to try to create course structures to address these. | ||
| Audience background: | All welcome | ||
| Benefits of participating: | Hear about current educational programmes and techniques Learn some instructional design techniques Discuss and develop ideas for teaching and developing engineers | ||
| Materials provided: | Presentation Need paper/pen/cards for discussion groups (or possibly we could record things online). | ||
| Process: | First half: presentation of experience Second half: group working to design new course ideas Conclusion: compiling the results of | ||
| Detailed timetable: | 00:00 - 00:30 Presentation How can we best design education programmes that prepare students to be effective software engineers in the modern world? What do they need to learn? How can we teach these things? Can we use the same principles to develop effective training and development programmes for professionals? We will present how we applied principles and tools from agile methods to a university software engineering course - what worked and what didn't. 00:30 - 01:00 Group work Using reverse instructional design, and applying principles from lean and systems thinking, groups will come up with ideas for what software practitioners need to know to succeed, and how these can be effectively taught/learnt. 01:00 - 01:15 Compile the results from group work, concluding discussion and wrap up. | ||
| Outputs: | Output from the group work will be collated and made available. | ||
| History: | Submitted (in various forms) for a few other conferences in the coming year - so far, accepted at ACCU. | ||
| Presenters | |||
| 1. Robert Chatley Develogical Ltd |
2. | 3. | |