The Skills Framework for the Information Age: Engaging Stakeholders in Curriculum Design

This paper reports on a research project, examining the role of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum design and management. A goal was to investigate how SFIA informs a top-down approach to curriculum design, beginning with a set of skills that define a particular career role. A further goal was to evaluate the extent to which SFIA facilitates stakeholder interaction, such that academic programs can better identify industry needs while preparing graduates for the intended career role. The paper also evaluates the extent to which SFIA informs the identification of authentic forms of assessment and the skills and levels of autonomy and responsibility required by entry-level and Masters graduate ICT positions. Processes and practices for ICT curriculum design and management are recommended based on findings arising from this research. Although this research was conducted in an Australian context, findings suggest that there is value in using SFIA for ICT curriculum design and management, even in those jurisdictions where it is not required for accreditation or professional certification purposes

Open BOK on Software Engineering Educational Context: A Systematic Literature Review

In this review, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) on Open Body of Knowledge (BOK) is presented. Moreover, the theoretical base to build a model for knowledge description was created, and it was found that there is a lack of guidelines to describe knowledge description because of the dramatically increasing number of requirements to produce an Open BOK, the difficulty of comparing related BOK contents, and the fact that reusing knowledge description is a very laborious task. In this sense, this review can be considered as a first step in building a model that can be used for describing knowledge description in Open BOK. Finally, in order to improve the educational context, a comparison among BOK, structure, and evolution is conducted.This work is supported partially by RTI2018-096846-B-C21 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and ADIAN grant IT980-16 (BasqueGovernment)

The Skills Framework for the Information Age: Engaging Stakeholders in ICT Curriculum Design

This paper reports on a research project, examining the role of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum design and management. A goal was to investigate how SFIA informs a top-down approach to curriculum design, beginning with a set of skills that define a particular career role. A further goal was to evaluate the extent to which SFIA facilitates stakeholder interaction, such that academic programs can better identify industry needs while preparing graduates for the intended career role. The paper also evaluates the extent to which SFIA informs the identification of authentic forms of assessment and the skills and levels of autonomy and responsibility required by entry-level and Masters graduate ICT positions. Processes and practices for ICT curriculum design and management are recommended based on findings arising from this research. Although this research was conducted in an Australian context, findings suggest that there is value in using SFIA for ICT curriculum design and management, even in those jurisdictions where it is not required for accreditation or professional certification purposes

Industry-academia collaborations in software testing: experience and success stories from Canada and Turkey : Special Issue Industry Academia Collaborations in Software Testing

Collaboration between industry and academia supports improvement and innovation in industry and helps to ensure industrial relevance in academic research. However, many researchers and practitioners believe that the level of joint industry–academia collaborations (IAC) in software engineering (SE) is still relatively very low, compared to the amount of activity in each of the two communities. The goal of the empirical study reported in this paper is to characterize a set of collaborative industry–academia R&D projects in the area of software testing conducted by the authors (based in Canada and Turkey) with respect to a set of challenges, patterns and anti-patterns identified by a recent Systematic Literature Review study, with the aim of contributing to the body of evidence in the area of IAC, for the benefit of SE researchers and practitioners in conducting successful IAC projects in software testing and in software engineering in general. To address the above goal, a pool of ten IAC projects (six completed, two failed and two ongoing) all in the area of software testing, which the authors have led or have had active roles in, were selected as objects of study and were analyzed (both quantitatively and qualitatively) with respect to the set of selected challenges, patterns and anti-patterns. As outputs, the study presents a set of empirical findings and evidence-based recommendations, e.g.: it has been observed that even if an IAC project may seem perfect from many aspects, one single major challenge (e.g., disagreement in confidentiality agreements) can lead to its failure. Thus, we recommend that both parties (academics and practitioners) consider all the challenges early on and proactively work together to eliminate the risk of challenges in IAC projects. We furthermore report correlation and interrelationship of challenges, patterns and anti-patterns with project success measures. This study hopes to encourage and benefit other SE researchers and practitioners in conducting successful IAC projects in software testing and in software engineering in general in the future

Hacia una taxonomía de educación de ingeniería de software

La educación de la ingeniería de software es una disciplina relativamente nueva y es objeto de amplia investigación. La literatura sobre el área de la educación de ingeniería de software consiste más que nada en artículos publicados en revistas y conferencias especializadas. Este material no se encuentra clasificado en categorías estables ni cuenta con una terminología estándar. La importancia de organizar el conocimiento y las publicaciones que se realizan está asociada a los beneficios que se obtienen para diferentes involucrados, como son: permitir a los investigadores situar sus iniciativas en un contexto adecuado, lograr una mejor inducción a los términos y conceptos de un área temática, y además mejorar sustancialmente la acumulación de evidencia (revisiones sistemáticas de literatura y estudios de mapeo). Este trabajo pretende contribuir a la organización del conocimiento de la educación de la ingeniería de software por medio de la construcción de un vocabulario controlado sobre los términos involucrados en la disciplina. Un vocabulario controlado es un conjunto de términos previamente seleccionados y sujeto a cierto control para su modificación. Estos términos son luego utilizados para describir documentos u otros tipos de objetos de contenido. Se propone un proceso de construcción de vocabularios controlados basado en la exploración del material a clasificar del cual se realizaron dos instancias de ejecución. En una primera se utilizaron técnicas de clustering automático para analizar más de 1.000 artículos presentados en conferencias relevantes durante el período (1988-2014) y obtener una taxonomía inicial. En una segunda instancia se amplió la cantidad de términos de la categoría ’teaching approaches and methods’. El resultado es un vocabulario controlado sobre educación de ingeniería de software con forma de taxonomía cuyo nivel más alto lo componen tres facetas: ’what to teach’ (24 términos), ’how to teach’ (30 términos) y ’where to teach’ (6 términos). Los 26 términos de la categoría ’teaching approaches and methods’ de la faceta ’how to teach’ cuentan con una definición, basada en la literatura disponible, y una lista de referencias bibliográficas

Forward to Scalability in SE education and training: Proceedings of CSEE&T2009

Welcome to the 22nd IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T 2009) and welcome to Hyderabad, India. CSEE&T has become the premier international conference focusing on education and training in software engineering. It seeks to answer the question: “As educators, how do we adjust our teaching to meet the personal preferences and technical challenges of the next generation of software engineers?

Improving Accuracy and Computational Efficiency of the Load Flow Computation of an Active/Passive Distribution Network

Over the last couple of decades, there has been a growing trend to make a paradigm shift from the passive distribution network to the active distribution network. With the rapid enlargement of network and installation of distributed generation (DG) units into distribution network, new technical challenges have arisen for load flow computation. The available techniques for the active distribution load flow calculation have limited scope of application and, sometimes, suffer from computational complexity. The complexity level of the distribution system power flow calculation is higher because of the issues of phase imbalance and high R/X ratios of feeder lines. The phase-imbalance increases computational complexity, whereas, the high R/X ratio makes time-consuming derivative based solver such as Newton-Raphson inviable for such large system. The motivation behind this work is to propose distinct mathematical approach for accurate modeling of network components, and loads to reduce computational time with improve accuracy. The applicability of an existing technique remains limited either by DG control modes, or by transformer configurations. The objective of this work is basically to develop an active distribution load flow (ADLF) algorithm with the following features. • Improved computational efficiency. • Applicability to any feeder network. • Accurate modeling of loads. • Applicability to different mode of operations of distributed generators (DGs). Typically, distributed generators are power-electronically interfaced sources that can be operated either in the current-balanced or in the voltage-balanced mode. The integration of DGs to the feeder network enables the distribution system to have bidirectional power exchange with the transmission grid. Which, also improve the voltage profile of the distribution network by providing additional sources of reactive power compensation. The contribution of the first work is to carry out the load flow analysis of a distribution network in the case of the dominant presence of induction motor loads. For a given operating condition, the load representation of an induction motor on the distribution network is made by analyzing its exact equivalent circuit. Thus, the induction motor is precisely represented as a voltage and frequency dependent load. The necessity of representing an induction motor by means of its precise load model is verified through a detailed case study. The convergence of the load flow solution with the precise modeling of induction motor loads is ensured by carrying out the load flow analysis over a complex distribution network containing several loops and distributed generations. The specific contribution of the second work is to improve the accuracy of the results obtained from the load flow analysis of a distribution network via forwardbackward sweeps. Specific attention is paid to the two-port modeling of a transformer with precise consideration for the zero sequence components of its port voltages. The zero sequence voltages at transformer ports are often ignored in the conventional load flow analyses. A new two-port network model is derived, which is generalized enough for the accurate representation of a transformer in the cascaded connection. Based upon the novel two-port representation made, a new set of iteration rules is established to carry out the forward-backward sweeps for solving the load flow results. All possible transformer configurations are taken into account. It is shown that the load flow analysis technique proposed is suitable for both active and passive distribution networks. The accuracy analysis of the load flow results is also carried out. For a given load flow result, by assessing the nodal current imbalances are evaluated based upon the admittance matrix representation of the network. Extensive case studies are performed to demonstrate the utility of the proposed load flow analysis technique. The contribution of the third work is to develop a computationally efficient and generalised algorithm for the load flow calculation in an active distribution network. The available techniques for the active distribution load flow calculation have limited scope of application and, sometimes, suffer from computational complexity. The applicability of an existing technique remains limited either by DG control modes or by transformer configurations. In this chapter, the load flow calculation is carried out by using the concept of Gauss-Zbus iterations, wherein the DG buses are modeled via the technique of power/current compensation. The specific distinctness of the proposed Gauss-Zbus formulation lies in overcoming the limitations imposed by DG control modes for the chosen DG bus modeling as well as in having optimized computational performance. The entire load flow calculation is carried out in the symmetrical component domain by decoupling all the sequence networks. Furthermore, a generalised network modeling is carried out to define decoupled and tap-invariant sequence networks along with maintaining the integrity of the zero sequence network under any transformer configurations.The computational efficiency and accuracy of the methodology proposed are verified through extensive case studies. The contribution of the fourth work is to identify and eliminate unnecessary itvii eration loops in the load flow analysis of an active distribution network so as to improve its overall computational efficiency. The number of iteration loops is minimized through the integrated modeling of a distributed generator (DG) and the associated coupling transformer. The DG bus is not preserved in the load flow calculation and the aforementioned DG-transformer assembly is represented in the form of a voltage dependent negative load at the point of connection to the main distribution network. Thus, the iteration stage that is involved in indirectly preserving the DG in the form of a voltage source or negative constant power load can be got rid of. This, in turn, eliminates the need for multiple rounds of forward-backward sweep iterations to determine the bus voltages. The power characteristics of the DG-transformer assembly are thoroughly investigated through a carefully performed case study so as to assess the potential convergence performance of the proposed

October 3, 2008, Ohio University Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes document the activities of Ohio University\u27s Board of Trustees