Master of science in software engineering via distance learning

Abstract

This paper describes the distance learning Software Engineering Master's program offered at the Naval Postgraduate School and presents the lessons from its first class. The program differs from the other software engineering programs in two ways: (1) the curriculum is developed specifically to meet the needs for formal software engineering education for DoD software practitioners with an undergraduate computer science degree and at least two years of software experience, and (2) the program is offered totally via distance learning. The curriculum builds upon the students' scientific knowledge in computer science from their undergraduate education and the insight into software problems from their working experience. It introduces students to a set of engineering practices that enable ordinary practitioners to create sophisticated software systems that work, and teaches students the principles and methods for managing the software development processes.