Software Engineering Master Research Articles

Assisting software engineering students in analyzing their performance in software development

Collecting product and process measures in software development projects, particularly in education and training environments, is important as a basis for assessing current performance and opportunities for improvement. However, analyzing the collected data manually is challenging because of the expertise required, the lack of benchmarks for comparison, the amount of data to analyze, and the time required to do the analysis. ProcessPAIR is a novel tool for automated performance analysis and improvement recommendation; based on a performance model calibrated from the performance data of many developers, it automatically identifies and ranks potential performance problems and root causes of individual developers. In education and training environments, it increases students’ autonomy and reduces instructors’ effort in grading and feedback. In this article, we present the results of a controlled experiment involving 61 software engineering master students, half of whom used ProcessPAIR in a Personal Software Process (PSP) performance analysis assignment, and the other half used a traditional PSP support tool (Process Dashboard) for performing the same assignment. The results show significant benefits in terms of students’ satisfaction (average score of 4.78 in a 1–5 scale for ProcessPAIR users, against 3.81 for Process Dashboard users), quality of the analysis outcomes (average grades achieved of 88.1 in a 0–100 scale for ProcessPAIR users, against 82.5 for Process Dashboard users), and time required to do the analysis (average of 252 min for ProcessPAIR users, against 262 min for Process Dashboard users, but with much room for improvement).

КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЕ МОДЕЛИ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ГОТОВНОСТИ БУДУЩИХ МАГИСТРОВ ПРОГРАММНОЙ ИНЖЕНЕРИИ К ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

The article deals with the relevant problem of training master students for professional communication. On the basis of the theoretical analysis of the labor functions for programmers specified in the professional standard and the analysis of competencies outlined in the Federal state educational standards of higher education 3+, the authors highlighted the relevant competence – readiness for professional communication. The competence requires the search for productive educational measures to promote the development of this type of readiness. The aim of the research is to construct a model of formation of readiness of future software engineering masters for professional communication. According to the purpose the following tasks are solved: 1) the algorithm of model design is developed and tested; 2) by means of the analysis of documents the studied problem relevance is proved; 3) the analysis of scientific sources assisted to specify the definition of the readiness of future software engineering for professional communication and define the list of necessary knowledge, abilities and skills; 4) on the basis of the modeling method, a structural model of the educational process is constructed and the content of its components is given. To solve these problems, we relied on the methodology of systematic, competence and integrative approaches. Besides, we used methods of documents analysis, theoretical analysis and synthesis, observation, analysis of products of educational activities and modeling which are considered as adequate to the tasks. On the basis of the methods of observation and analysis of the products of educational activity, the insufficient level of readiness of future software engineering masters for professional communication is recorded. For its qualitative improvement the model of formation of readiness of future software engineering masters for professional communication is developed. The main feature of this model is the use of the interdisciplinary principle in the educational process of the University. Interactive teaching methods, interdisciplinary projects and modern scientific and educational Internet resources that increase motivation and involvement of students are chosen as the most effective methods of formation of readiness for professional communication. Theoretical and practical results of the work can be used in training programs for graduate students. The scheme proposed by the authors can form the basis for the design of models and methodological ideas for the development of students' competencies in the oral and written business communication, scientific sphere of communication, intercultural aspects of interaction with specialists, etc.

Remote Evaluation of Software Engineering Competences

The paper focuses on and examines the issues and problems related to remote evaluation of software engineering competences using progressive competence representation model. Authors suggested original approach for Master Program in Software Engineering competence evaluation as a combination academic competences and professional competences from European Competence model (e-CF). Examples of competence description for 16 subjects from proposed a Joint Master Program in Software Engineering are developed. Several types of scoring rubrics for Software Engineering competences evaluation are reviewed and rubrics’ templates created. The developed models and templates can be used by universities and IT enterprises for training results evaluation as well as for competence evaluation for Software Engineering Master program's graduates.

Support for Different Roles in Software Engineering Master's Thesis Projects

Like many engineering programs in Europe, the final part of most Swedish software engineering programs is a longer project in which the students write a Master's thesis. These projects are often conducted in cooperation between a university and industry, and the students often have two supervisors, one at the university and one in industry. In particular, the Bologna Process that is currently underway to align different higher educational programs in Europe discusses industrial Master's theses as a major type of thesis project. However, there is a lack of knowledge on how best to support these projects and the different stakeholders involved. This paper presents a study where students and supervisors from software engineering Master's thesis projects at three different Swedish universities are interviewed. The intention of the study is to explore what the major problems of different stakeholders are during a project and to investigate what type of support is needed. Based on the interview results, a support model is defined, which outlines the different types of support that are needed for different roles in Master's thesis projects.

A Draft Reference Curriculum for Software Engineering Master's Programs

A Draft Reference Curriculum for Software Engineering Master's Programs

Developing a Joint Software Engineering Master’s Curriculum Across Countries: Report on a Multi-national Educational Project

Developing a Joint Software Engineering Master’s Curriculum Across Countries: Report on a Multi-national Educational Project

An Agile, Graduate, Software Studio Course

The value of a studio course in undergraduate software engineering programs is well documented. What is not as well understood is how to provide a relevant studio experience to working, seasoned professional software engineers as part of a Master's of Software Engineering (MSE) degree program. The challenge is that students' experiential diversity complicates the selection of projects that address different students' needs. Further, when the studio experience is compressed into 14 weeks, significant challenges are presented in controlling the process environment while providing a realistic and meaningful learning experience for part-time students. In this paper, a novel software studio course developed specifically for working, experienced professionals in an MSE program is described

Master of science in software engineering via distance learning

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.

The Master of Software Engineering (MSE) program at Seattle University

The term “software engineering” has been in use for over twenty years. Yet, it lacks a precise, generally acceptable interpretation. This situation has made it especially difficult to define and implement educational programs in this relatively new discipline. This paper discusses the experience and results of one of the first successful graduate programs in the field, the Seattle University Master of Software Engineering (MSE) program. This program was established in 1979, and the results of its first several years of operationare reviewed in this article.

Graduation talk at Wang Institute

In 1987, An Wang announced that he would no longer finance the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies. Under the terms of a merger arranged with Boston University, the Institute's flagship degree, Master of Software Engineering, was discontinued. The author discusses the program's meaning and value to the software engineering profession. The establishment of the Society of Software Engineering (to carry on the tradition of the Wang Institute), is also described. >

The Evolution of Wang Institute's Master of Software Engineering Program

Master of Software Engineering (MSE) programs are relatively new. Starting such a program is expensive in terms of human and capital resources. Some of the costs are: preparation of new course materials, acquisition of sophisticated equipment and software, and maintenance of a low student/faculty ratio. In addition, MSE students and faculty have special needs, such as technical background and familiarity with current industrial practices.

Master of software engineering - a proposed curriculum for practitioners

It is well known that software development projects usually exceed both time and budget projections. Furthermore, many software systems do not meet expectedt performance, are difficult to modify and maintain, and often have unexpectedly short life cycles. These problems exist even when the developers are college graduates with bachelor, masters, and doctoral degrees in computer science. Clearly, the problem is not lack of training but rather focuses on the need for a new approach to the software development process. “Software Engineering” is a term coined in 1967 by a computer science study group of the NATO Science Committee as the theme of a workshop on improving the process of software development.