Forum for Advancing Software engineering Education Volume 6 Number 17 August 16, 1996 Contents: Reminder: Deadline for CSEE&T Submissions Software Engineering Education Site - part of SEweb Software Management Workshops University-Industry Collaboration -- Some UK Experiences Seminar - Safety-critical issues in requirements engineering CFP: 10th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Keith Pierce Subject: Reminder: Deadline for CSEE&T Submissions A reminder that deadlines for the 10th Conference on Software Engineering Education are fast approaching. All submissions (papers, panels, workshops, presentations, experience reports, tutorials) are due by September 1, 1996. For more information, see the call at the end of this issue, or contact me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jenny Harvey Subject: Software Engineering Education Site - part of SEweb http://tuvalu.cs.flinders.edu.au/seweb/se-ed/ A World Wide Web site concerned with software engineering education issues. It provides information on university and other courses in Australia, and some limited information on international and general offerings. It also provides information for those interested in developing, discussing and delivering software engineering education. The software engineering education site is only one of the subject areas in the SEweb project of the CSIRO in Australia. http://seweb.dit.csiro.au/ SEweb aims provide access to a wide range of software engineering information resources, with a focus on Australian resources, but also covering international offerings. It is worth a visit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hardy_dwayne%p-ascnc2.mrouter@seaa.navsea.navy.mil (Dwayne Hardy) Subject: Software Management Workshops A Joint Logistics Commanders education and training working group will broadcast two training sessions this fall. They are free to anyone who would like to participate. The topics of the broadcasts are "Practical Software Measurement" (Sept. 5), and "Open Systems for Executives" (October 17), two US Department of Defense initiatives for DOD managers. For detailed description of the workshops, see the web site http://diamond.spawar.navy.mil/specs/jlc/broadcst.html. Any additional questions or comments concerning the broadcast availability, email Dwayne Hardy at hardy_dwayne%p-ascnc2.mrouter@seaa.navsea.navy.mil or call (703)418-4574 and ask for "JLC Broadcast". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: alan.jones@tees.ac.uk (Alan Jones) Subject: University-Industry Collaboration -- Some UK Experiences EDITOR'S NOTE. The following article is a response from Alan Jones, University of Teesside, UK. to an article by Pete Knoke, University of Alaska Fairbanks, "INDUSTRY/UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION: FINDING PEOPLE AT THE RIGHT LEVEL," published in FASE V6 n15. Pete Knoke comments, "I believe his (Alan Jones') concerns are very valid, especially re. "wastage". I am glad to have his feedback, and I thank him for providing it. It is definitely not good to raise hopes that can't be satisfied. Perhaps the language of the solicitation can be chosen to make sure that unrealistic hopes do not arise. Unfortunately, I find that with press releases the originator's control of language is (to say the least) limited." INDUSTRY/UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION - SOME UK EXPERIENCES Re: Pete Knoke's case study (FASE V6 n15) about procuring projects for Computer Science seniors at UAF. I read his account with growing alarm at the similarities between his procurement method and one we changed radically two years ago because of disastrous industry responses. I am leader of an advanced postgraduate one-year Master's programme in Software Engineering. Details of this programme have appeared previously n FASE. We used to advertise by mailshot and telephone (not advertising or editorial) for project 'offers' in order to address two main targets: a) setting up relevant industry collaborations for software engineering projects b) giving graduate students choices to control their owneducation (the postgraduate ethos). Like Pete, I have a model of the "right person"; he or she is the problem owner, someone with a 'wish-list' characterised by one or both of i) I wish I had the resource to do this, and/or ii) I wish I knew more about this. When such a person is found, I 'sell' the advantages of very low-cost student labour with high-skill state-of-the-art capability/skill. When this person 'buys-in' to the personal, project or company advantages, he or she becomes a 'mover-and shaker' to effect the successful acceptance of an industry-university collaborative project with the company management. Notice that many more contacts are made than projects are needed, but that it is very difficult to cut-off a contact once made without appearing very churlish or greedy. After all, we want the project, don't we? It is not always uphill; various alert companies, like British Telecom and British Steel, are proactively engaging in developing links with universities. We started operations in 1990. By 1994, with 17 students, I had procured 43 projects. In that year, the School of Computing and Mathematics here at Teesside was confirmed as Excellent in its teaching of computing. The assessors singled-out the postgraduate courses for especially favourable mention, and this included the industrial collaboration. Teesside was confirmed in the top rank for computing, and is the only 'new' university in the top rank alongside Cambridge, York, Exeter, Manchester and Kent. But it was very expensive, time-consuming work and I had started to notice customer resistance to the provision of projects. Typically, my wastage rate was about 50-55%. I note with alarm that Pete Knoke's wastage rate is 80%. In a quality view, such waste is bad business; bad for the University image, in not closing the loop and engaging a student on to an offered project; bad for future procurement, because in future the whole exercise may seem fruitless from the industry point of view. We applied Crosby quality analysis to cut down the number of frustrated projects. A frustrated project is a client problem without student effort or interest. From 1995, students have exercised their preferences to pre-select areas of interest. We now operate a procurement phase that maintains the postgraduate ethos of choice but only pursues the exact number of projects needed. A by-product is our ability to further engage the mover-and-shaker by guaranteeing a particular student with a particular CV when making the initial contact, and to flush-out and kill-off any luke-warm response by making plain our need to procure a project for a particular student. This change of approach has maintained our Industry-Collaboration links, cut-down our costs of procurement and corrected a dangerous image of unreliability that had been secretly growing within our Industry community. Alan Jones, University of Teesside, School of Computing and Mathematics, Cleveland TS1 3BA Tel 01642 342681 fax 01642 230527 email alan.jones@tees.ac.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: olly@soi.city.ac.uk (Orlena Gotel) Subject: Seminar - Safety-critical issues in requirements engineering REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING SPECIALIST GROUP OF THE BCS Half-day meeting - 4 speakers & panel session THEME: Safety-Critical Issues in Requirements Engineering VENUE: Seminar Room X/D007 Main Building Department of Computer Science University of York DATE: September 18th 1996 TIME: 2:00pm - 5:00pm ABSTRACT: The engineering of requirements for safety-critical systems places particular demands upon the development process. There are complex issues of traceability, specification, and certification. Not only that, but the issue of software safety must be examined at the Systems level in order to fully understand the effect of the software on the overall system safety. This in turn means that safety requirements can originate from many disparate sources and disciplines, and that they must be examined using a wide variety of analytical techniques. This RESG meeting will explore these concepts and provide attendees with a broad coverage of the relevant issues. The meeting will consist of four presentations followed by a panel discussion. We have selected speakers who will between them identify the open research questions, promising technical directions, and examples of best-case industrial practise. We are very pleased to announce the following speakers from academia and industry: John McDermid (University of York) Amer Saeed (University of Newcastle) Barry Hebbron (University of Teesside) Mike Gainford and Jason Beerling (Rolls-Royce) The Department of Computer Science is easy to reach by road and by rail, and is housed within the University of York's campus. The campus is well-known for its lake and wildfowl and is in close proximity to the historic city of York. ADMISSION: Free to members of the RESG and students 5 pounds sterling to others (BCS members are eligible for discounted membership of the RESG) FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT: 1. The meeting or access to York, contact Dr Andy Vickers by phone on 01904 434 727 or by email on andyv@minster.york.ac.uk 2. Membership of the RESG, contact Dr Sara Jones, School of Information Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB Fax: 01707 284303 (S.Jones@herts.ac.uk) 3. The RESG or BCS, visit our web home page http://www.OiT.co.uk/resg __________________________________________________________________________ DR ORLENA GOTEL Dept Computer Science Tel: +44 (0)171-477-8000 x3700 City University Fax: +44 (0)171-477-8587 Northampton Square Email: olly@soi.city.ac.uk London EC1V OHB http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/homes/olly ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Keith Pierce Subject: CFP: 10th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training You are invited to participate in the 10th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T) April 13-16, 1997, in Virginia Beach, Va. The theme of the conference is Transitions to the 21st Century. Educators, trainers, executives, managers, and administrators gather to exchange ideas about how to enhance software engineering training and education. The CSEE&T attracts international participation from industry, academe, and government. The purpose of the CSEE&T is to influence educational directions, stimulate new approaches, promote collaboration, and generate interactive exchanges among software engineering stakeholders. Government, business, and academe are changing rapidly as emerging technologies create possibilities that were unheard of ten years ago. New platforms have shifted the emphasis from centralized systems, to distributed environments, to the Internet. Advances in telecommunications and networking have changed the focus from proprietary systems to data and information. Satisfying customer requirements quickly and accurately within this framework of profound change has resulted in new software engineering approaches, methodologies, and tools. Education and training need to evolve to meet the challenges ahead. The question for the future is how and in what way we educate and train software engineers and their managers. Conference topics include The future of software . predictions for the future . the emergence of true artificial intelligence . technology challenges ahead . the changing role of software in business management . changes to the software engineering organization The software engineering profession . competencies that will be needed in the future . the impact of new life cycles, methodologies, and tools . the people side of software engineering The effects of change on software engineering curricula . software engineering education and the customer's voice . new education and training philosophies and paradigms . how to measure the return on investment from education and training . how to create a "learning" academic institution Innovative approaches for software engineering courses . cutting-edge programs in software engineering . examples of high-performing curricula . motivations for educators and trainers to explore new learning approaches . the Internet as a tool for educators and trainers Industry-academia collaboration . the current state of collaborative efforts . lessons learned from the collaborative model . examples of highly successful collaborations . how to measure the effect of collaboration on companies and communities . the effect of collaboration on software engineering education and training . how much collaboration is necessary Alternative delivery methods . new tools and techniques available to educators . the classroom setting versus learning online in the office or at home . comparative studies of different delivery methods Advanced training and education management methods . total quality management applied in an academic setting . how educators can be trained to be better teachers . the role of the student in education management . compensation and reward systems for educators . how to apply statistical process control to education . whether or not students are empowered to learn Submission guidelines and procedures We request papers and proposals for workshops, panel discussions, experience reports, and presentations. We welcome proposals for half- and full-day tutorials. We invite innovative suggestions for informal meetings, such as poster sessions or birds-of-a-feather sessions. Submissions should relate to the conference theme and topics, though this is not mandatory. Submit five copies of a paper or proposal. Put only the title and beginning text of the submission on the first page of a paper. Provide a separate cover sheet with title, all authors' names, affiliations, complete addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Accepted contributions will appear in the conference proceedings, published by IEEE. Important dates All submissions (papers, panels, workshops, presentations, experience reports, tutorials) are due by September 1, 1996. Notification of acceptance will be made by November 1, 1996. Final presentation materials must be received by January 1, 1997. There will be a limited number of exhibit tables available at the CSEE&T. The tables will be provided at no charge to conference participants and will be distributed in the order requests are received. Program Committee Clark Archer, Winthrop University Kathy Beckman, Computer Data Systems, Inc. Neal Coulter, Florida Atlantic University Jorge Diaz-Herrera, SEI Chuck Engle, Defense Information Systems Agency Bernice Folz, University of St. Thomas Gary Ford, SEI Christopher Fox, James Madison University Dennis Frailey, Texas Instruments Thomas Hilburn, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Michael Lutz, Rochester Institute of Technology Mike McCracken, Georgia Institute of Technology Cliona McGowan, European Software Institute Kathleen O'Connor, Motorola Inc. George O'Mary, McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Judy Phelan, Bell Atlantic Karl Reed, La Trobe University Hossein Saiedian, University of Nebraska Laurie Werth, University of Texas, Austin Send submissions to Charlene Rauber Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 4500 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Phone 412 / 268-3007 FAX 412 / 268-5758 Internet education@sei.cmu.edu Larry Tobin General Chair Lawrence Tobin Associates Internet ltatrain@erols.com Keith Pierce Program Chair University of Minnesota, Duluth Internet kpierce@d.umn.edu Sponsored by the SEI. Co-sponsorship with the IEEE Computer Society is pending. In cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The SEI is a federally funded research and development center funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University.>Program Committee E------------------------------------------------------------------- FASE Volume VOLUME Number NUMBER Send newsletter articles to one of the editors, preferably by category: Articles pertinent to corporate and government training to Kathy Beckman, sdmce@access.digex.net; Academic education, and all other categories to fase@cs-server.d.umn.edu, or to Keith Pierce, kpierce@d.umn.edu. Send requests for information or to add or delete a subscription to fase-request@cs-server.d.umn.edu with one of the words HELP, SUBSCRIBE, or UNSUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT line. Send problem reports, returned mail, or other correspondence about this newsletter to kpierce@d.umn.edu You can retrieve back issues by anonymous FTP from from ricis.cl.uh.edu or through WWW at URL http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/FASE/ Keith Pierce -- Academic/Misc Editor and ListMaster University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812-2496 USA Phone: 218- 726-7194 Fax: 218-726-6360 Email: kpierce@d.umn.edu Kathy Beckman -- Corporate/Government Editor Computer Data Systems One Curie Ct., Rockville MD 20850 USA Phone: 301-921-7027 Fax: 301-921-1004 Email: sdmce@access.digex.net David Eichmann -- FASE Archivist University of Houston - Clear Lake Box 113, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX 77058 USA Web: http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/eichmann/ Phone: 713-283-3875 Fax: 713-283-3810 Email: eichmann@rbse.jsc.nasa.gov or eichmann@cl.uh.edu Laurie Werth -- Advisory Committee Taylor Hall 2.124 University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 USA Phone: 512-471-9535 Fax: 512-471-8885 Email: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu Nancy Mead -- Advisory Committee Software Engineering Institute 5000 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA Phone: 412-268-5756 Fax: 412-268-5758 Email: nrm@sei.cmu.edu