Software Engineering Strengths and Weaknesses in Systems Engineers (presentation)

Prepared for NDIA Conference, 201

Teaching software systems thinking at The Open University

The Open University is a distance-based higher education institution. Most of our students are in employment and study from home, contacting their tutor and fellow students via e-mail and discussion forums. In this paper, we describe our undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the software systems area, how we teach them at a distance, and our focus on shifting our students’ minds into a reflective, critical, holistic socio-technical view of software systems that is relevant to their particular professional contexts

Software and Systems Engineers in ICS Security - Graduate Level Curricula and Industry Needs

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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

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

Shall we play a game?

In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet evolving technical developments and industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software engineering management skills and soft, peopleware skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game — a game designed to educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This thesis presents the results of a qualitative research project that used a simple game of a software project to see if and how games could contribute to better software project management education; and if they could, then what features and attributes made them most efficacious. That is, shall we— should we— play games in software engineering management? The primary research tool for this project was a game called Simsoft. Physically, Simsoft comes in two pieces. There is an A0-sized printed game board around which the players gather to discuss the current state of their project and to consider their next move. The board shows the flow of the game while plastic counters are used to represent the staff of the project. Poker chips represent the team’s budget, with which they can purchase more staff, and from which certain game events may draw or reimburse amounts depending on decisions made during the course of the game. There is also a simple Java-based dashboard, through which the players can see the current and historical state of the project in a series of reports and messages; and they can adjust the project’s settings. The engine behind Simsoft is a system dynamics model which embodies the fundamental causal relationships of simple software development projects. In Simsoft game sessions, teams of students, and practicing project managers and software engineers managed a hypothetical software development project with the aim of completing the project on time and within budget (with poker chips left over). Based on the starting scenario of the game, information provided during the game, and their own real-world experience, the players made decisions about how to proceed— whether to hire more staff or reduce the number, what hours should be worked, and so on. After each decision set had been entered, the game was run for another next time period, (a week, a month, or a quarter). The game was now in a new state which the players had to interpret from the game board and decide how to proceed. The findings showed that games can contribute to better software engineering management education and help bridge the pedagogical gaps in current curriculum guidelines. However, they can’t do this by themselves and for best effect they should be used in conjunction with other pedagogical tools. The findings also showed that simple games and games in which the players are able to relate the game world to an external context are the most efficacious

Towards a wider application of the systems approach in information systems and software engineering

The chapter provides possible directions for the wider application of the systems approach to information systems development. Potential improvement of software development practices is linked by some leading experts to the application of more systemic ideas. However, the current state of the practice in software engineering and information systems development shows the urgent need for improvement through greater application of systems thinking