David Veal

Teaching software engineering project management-A novel approach for software engineering programs

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 technical developments and evolving industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software project management 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 teach and educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This paper 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. Initial results suggest that suitably-designed games are able to teach software engineering and project management concepts at higher-order Bloom taxonomy levels.

State Model Diagrams as a Pedagogical Tool—An International Evaluation

State model diagrams (SMDs) have been successfully used as the pedagogical foundation of network technology curriculum. SMDs selectively integrate relevant output from network devices by means of tables. SMDs are modular and hierarchical, thereby providing top-down decomposition by means of levelling, allowing a complex network to be partitioned or structured into independent units of an amenable size so that the entire system can be more easily understood. An overview of the entire network or increasing levels of detail may be obtained while maintaining links and interfaces between the different levels. Furthermore, SMDs allow technical detail to be introduced in an integrated and controlled manner, thereby supporting student learning at both introductory and advanced levels. In effect, as students progress they do not have to learn a new conceptual model; rather they can build upon and extend their existing knowledge. This paper evaluates the use of SMDs for teaching network technology to international students whose first language is not English. This study was further extended to include an evaluation of SMDs, as a teaching tool, by Cisco academics within the Asia/Pacific region.

The OSI network management model- capacity and performance management

With the rapid growth of large enterprise networks, capacity and performance management issues are becoming increasingly important to both business organizations and the telecommunication industry. Capacity and performance management techniques and methods provide guidance on how to plan, justify and manage network resources. Inappropriate planning for capacity and performance may lead to wasted resources resulting in unnecessary cost, or lack of resources resulting in poor network performance or even the unavailability of IT services. Moreover, it is not uncommon for networks to be equipped with devices from different vendors which potentially add to complexity. Resource management may be assisted by using a network management framework. The OSI Network Management Model (NMM) is the standard model and provides a conceptual framework for organizing a diverse range of network resources. This paper is an analysis of the OSI NMM to evaluate its use within large enterprise networks focusing upon capacity and performance management.

Assessing “hands on” skills on CS1 computer & network technology units

Edith Cowan University (ECU) introduced a new curriculum in computer and network technology based upon a market analysis of employer expectations. Uniquely, within Australia, this curriculum has extensive workshop exercises that require students to work on equipment they are likely to meet in the workplace and as such the workshop environment is potentially hazardous to students. It was found that prospective employers often required both an assessment and an assurance that students following this curriculum could work to an acceptable industry standard. The traditional forms of assessment (examinations and assignments) did not fulfil this requirement. The authors therefore designed a Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) to measure procedural knowledge and skills. The CBA designed was simple, easy to use and can be implemented as part of a standard workshop without interrupting student activities.

A low cost adaptive graphical user interface for the visually handicapped with multiple conditions

Limited trials have been demonstrated that a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the visually handicapped called Dynamic Pattern System (DPS) can adaptively utilize residual vision by generating different patterns, colors and shapes. Low vision simulators, used by normally sighted, have allowed researchers to clearly identify visual impairments that can be helped by DPS. However, it is not uncommon for the visually handicapped to suffer from multiple conditions having a multiplicative degenerative effect on their sight. This paper demonstrates how DPS can be used to assist individuals with compound sight disorders.

Resource Redundancy – A Staffing Factor using SFIA

There are many technologies and associated protocols that can provide different levels of redundancy in order to ensure continuous twenty-four-seven network connectivity and associated corporate services. The basic design principle of redundancy is to ensure there is no single point of failure hence the use of additional resources (active/active; active/passive or active/standby) to take over when the active component fails. It is important to address all aspects of the IT infrastructure such as utilities, power supplies, switching fabric etc. Configurations with no single point of failure are able to offer an annual down time of 0.5 hours or less. A detailed analysis of a large corporate network clearly demonstrated that it conformed to ‘world’s best’ practice for a highly redundant network design. However, an analysis of their network staffing profiles clearly indicated the lack of a systematic approach to the provision of skill set redundancy. The authors recommend the use of the Skills Framework for an Information Age (SFIA) as a simple, quantifiable reference model for the more effective management of human assets.

Teamwork and trust: universities, industry and the professional software engineer

Universities are faced with the challenge of providing for the future professional software engineer (PSE) the same quality and intensity of educational experience they have traditionally provided in support of the other engineering disciplines. Computing curricula in Australia have tended to emphasize the scientific and computer engineering side, the hardware side, of computing but the advent of the PSE demands new approaches to curricular design involving new topics and a product-based, rather than theory-based, emphasis. Since the graduate PSE will tend to be industrially oriented, a large practical content will be desirable in the course. This, in turn, will nor only raise educational issues within academia but also challenge long-held industrial attitudes towards universities, their students and graduates. This paper discusses some of the difficulties industry and the universities face in meeting these challenges.

Educating professional software engineers: pathways and progress in the Australian experience

Australia has seized the international initiative in the recognition of software engineers as professionals. Of the 37 universities in Australia offering undergraduate courses in computing, eleven offer courses in software engineering which are accredited by the Institute of Engineers, Australia (IEAust) and which may lead the graduate to membership of the Institute. In this way, the Institute has plausible claim to being the first national professional engineering body in the world to have accredited four-year undergraduate software engineering degrees as professional qualifications. The paper traces the development of the relationship between the Institute of Engineers and the computing industry and looks at the changes this relationship has wrought in the content and emphasis of tertiary software engineering education.

The possibilities of an implementation national ICT competency framework for Thailand ICT master plan

This paper aims to analyse four National ICT competency frameworks which have been implemented within their respective countries. Two dimensions related to competency levels and implementation coverage are discussed and compared. The new Thailand ICT master plan 2009 – 2013 was announced on August 2009. This master plan required the strategy in human resource development; however, it did not clearly define how to establish a national IT skills framework. The results of discussions and comparisons from four competency frameworks from other countries may help to identify and to possibly assist the introduction of an appropriate IT competency framework along into the Thailand ICT master 2010 in a timely manner.

Learning Java with Sun SPOTS

Small Programmable Object Technology devices from Sun Microsystems (Sun SPOTs) are small wireless devices that can run Java programs. In the on-going research project described in this paper, Sun SPOTs have been used in conjunction with model-driven software development techniques to develop a tool that can be used to introduce new software developers to object-oriented programming in general and Java in particular in a new and interesting way.