Article

On the supervision and assessment of part-time postgraduate software engineering projects

Authors:

Andrew Simpson,

Jeremy Gibbons,

Steve McKeeverAuthors Info & Claims

ICSE '03: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Software Engineering

Pages 628 - 633

Published: 03 May 2003 Publication History

Publisher Site Get Access

Abstract

This paper describes existing practices in the supervision and assessment of projects undertaken by part-time, post-graduate students in Software Engineering. It considers this aspect of the learning experience, and the educational issues raised, in the context of existing literature---much of which is focussed upon the experience of full-time, undergraduate students. The importance of these issues will increase with the popularity of part-time study at a postgraduate level; the paper presents a set of guidelines for project supervision and assessment.

References

[1]

C. Bergman. Senior design projects with industry. In Proceedings of FIE'98. IEEE, November 1998.

[2]

H. Blustain, P. Goldstein, and G. Lozier. Assessing the new competitive landscape. In R. N. Katz and associates, editors, Dancing With The Devil: Information Technology And The New Competition In Higher Education, pages 51--72. Jossey-Bass inc., 1999.

[3]

R. D. Boyle and M. A. C. Clark. Non-technical issues in undergraduate CS project work or what are we (all) here for? In M. Holcombe, A. Stratton, S. Fincher, and G. Griffiths, editors, Projects in the Computing Curriculum: Proceedings of the Project '98 Workshop, pages 117--128. Springer, 1998.

[4]

D.W. Breneman, J. E. Finney, and B. M. Roherty. Shaping The Future: Higher Education Finances In The 1990s. San Jose: California Higher Education Policy Centre, 1997.

[5]

P. Capon. Maximizing learning outcomes of computer science projects. Computer Science Education, 9(3): 184--199, 1999.

[6]

M. A. C. Clark and R. D. Boyle. A personal theory of teaching computing through final year projects. Computer Science Education, 9(3):200--214, 1999.

[7]

T. Clear. A collaborative learning trial between New Zealand and Sweden using Lotus Notes Domino in teaching the concepts of human computer interaction. In Proceedings of ACM Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, 1999.

Digital Library

[8]

A. Collins. Portfolios for science education: issues in purpose, structure and authenticity. Science Education, 76:451--463, 1992.

[9]

R. Cooper and R. Welland. Computing science projects at the University of Glasgow. In M. Holcombe, A. Stratton, S. Fincher, and G. Griffiths, editors, Projects in the Computing Curriculum: Proceedings of the Project '98 Workshop, pages 169--183. Springer, 1998.

[10]

M. Daniels and L. Asplund. Full scale industrial project work: a one semester course. In IEEE Frontiers in Education, San Juan, Costa Rica, November 1999.

[11]

M. Daniels, A. Berglund, and M. Petre. Some thoughts on international projects in the undergraduate education. In Project 99, EPCoS, Exeter, UK, September 1999.

[12]

Report Of The National Committee On Higher Education. HM Government, HM Stationary Office, 1997.

[13]

D. Dekker. Issues when using company sponsored projects to provide a design experience for students. In Proceedings of FIE'97. IEEE, November 1997.

[14]

P. J. Denning. Educating a new engineer. Communications of the ACM, 35(12):82--97, December 1992.

Digital Library

[15]

J. J. Duderstadt. Can colleges and universities survive in the information age? In R. N. Katz and associates, editors, Dancing With The Devil: Information Technology And The New Competition In Higher Education, pages 1--26. Jossey-Bass inc., 1999.

[16]

G. C. Farrington. The new technologies and the future of residential undergraduate education. In R. N. Katz and associates, editors, Dancing With The Devil: Information Technology And The New Competition In Higher Education, pages 73--94. Jossey-Bass inc., 1999.

[17]

S. Fincher, M. Petre, and M. Clark, editors. Computer Science Project Work: Principles and Pragmatics. Springer, 2001.

Digital Library

[18]

A. Griffin. Transferring learning in higher education: problems and possibilities. In R. Barnett, editor, Academic Community: Discourse or Discord? Jessica Kingsley, 1992.

[19]

D. Hagan, S. Tucker, and J. Ceddia. Industrial experience projects: A balance of process and product. Computer Science Education, 9(3):215--229, 1999.

[20]

HEQC. Assessment In Higher Education And The Role Of 'Graduateness'. Higher Education Quality Council, London, 1997.

[21]

M. Holcombe and H. H. Lafferty. Using computer profes- sionals for managing student software projects. In D. Bateman and T. Hopkins, editors, Proceedings of the Conference on Developments in the Teaching of Computer Science. University of Kent at Canterbury, 1992.

[22]

M. Holcombe, A. Stratton, S. Fincher, and G. Griffiths, editors. Projects in the Computing Curriculum: Proceedings of the Project '98 Workshop. Springer, 1998.

[23]

A. Jackson. An industry-centered capstone experience for aeronautical management technology students at Arizona State University. In Proceedings of FIE'98. IEEE, November 1998.

[24]

J. M. Keller. Motivational design of instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth, editor, Instructional-Design Theories and Models. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1983.

[25]

M. Knudsen and T. Vinther, editors. Project Work in University Studies. Roskilde University, Denmark, September 1997.

[26]

M. R. Luck. Undergraduate research projects---why bother? In EPCoS workshop, Leeds, UK, January 1998.

[27]

T. Macek, B. Mannova, J. Kolar, and B. Williams. Global cooperation project in computer programming course. In Proceedings of SIGCSE'99. ACM Press, March 1999.

Digital Library

[28]

R. Mitchell. What is 'authentic assessment'? Portfolio: The Newsletter of Arts PROPEL, Harvard University, December 1989.

[29]

C. H. Papdimitrou and K. Sterglitz. Combinatorial Optimization. Prentice Hall, 1982.

Digital Library

[30]

M. Petre and S. Fincher. Using other people's experience of project work: realising fitness for purpose. In M. Holcombe, A. Stratton, S. Fincher, and G. Griffiths, editors, Projects in the Computing Curriculum: Proceedings of the Project '98 Workshop, pages 19--30. Springer, 1998.

[31]

S. Rowett. Experience of a student-led final year degree project. In M. Boyle, editor, Student led Projects at the University of Leeds. University of Leeds, 1995.

[32]

J. Ryder and J. Leach. Research projects in the UG science course: students learning about science through enculturation. In G. Gibbs, editor, Improving Student Learning Through Course Design. Oxford Centre for Staff Learning and Development, 1997.

[33]

H. Saiedian. Software engineering education and training for the next millennium. Journal of Systems and Software, 47(12), December 1999.

Digital Library

[34]

Standards and routes to registration (SARTOR). Engineering Council, 1997.

[35]

A. Stratton, M. Holcombe, and P. Croll. Improving the quality of software engineering courses through university based industrial projects. In M. Holcombe, A. Stratton, S. Fincher, and G. Griffiths, editors, Projects in the Computing Curriculum: Proceedings of the Project '98 Workshop, pages 47--69. Springer, 1998.

[36]

J. B. Vaughn jr. Teaching industrial practices in an undergraduate software engineering course. Computer Science Education, 11(1):21--32, 2001.

[37]

G. Wiggins. A true test: toward more authentic and equitable assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, pages 703--713, 1989.

Cited By

Simpson AMartin ACremers CFlechais IMartinovic IRasmussen KBertolino ACanfora GElbaum S(2015)Experiences in developing and delivering a programme of part-time education in software and systems securityProceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 210.5555/2819009.2819078(435-444)Online publication date: 16-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2819009.2819078

Index Terms

On the supervision and assessment of part-time postgraduate software engineering projects
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
      2. Model curricula

Recommendations

Fair assessment in software engineering capstone projects
BCI '13: Proceedings of the 6th Balkan Conference in Informatics

Providing undergraduate and postgraduate Computer Science students with valuable practical, real-life experiences during Software Engineering courses is considered a necessity. These experiences should integrate theoretical knowledge with practical ...
Automatic code generation within student's software engineering projects
WCCCE '12: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education

In this paper, we describe the integration of research and new teaching strategies into computer science and engineering departments at universities and colleges related to the automatic code generation, automatic development tools and integrated ...
Large team projects in software engineering courses

A key goal of educators teaching software engineering is to provide students with useful experience that will benefit them after graduation. A key component of this experience is usually a class project that is meant to expose students to the issues ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ICSE '03: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Software Engineering

May 2003

841 pages

ISBN:076951877X

General Chair:
Lori Clarke
University of Massachusetts
,
Program Chairs:
Laurie Dillon
Michigan State University
,
Walter Tichy
University of Karlsruhe, Germany

Copyright © Copyright (c) 2003 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sponsors

IEEE Computer Society Technical Council on Software Engineering
SIGSOFT: ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering

Publisher

IEEE Computer Society

United States

Publication History

Published: 03 May 2003

Check for updates

Qualifiers

Article

Conference

ICSE03

Sponsor:

SIGSOFT

ICSE03: 25th International Conference on Software Engineering

May 3 - 10, 2003

Oregon, Portland

Acceptance Rates

ICSE '03 Paper Acceptance Rate 42 of 324 submissions, 13%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 276 of 1,856 submissions, 15%

Upcoming Conference

ICSE 2025

2025 IEEE/ACM 46th International Conference on Software Engineering

April 26 - May 3, 2025

Ottawa , ON , Canada

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

1
Total Citations
View Citations
500
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)1
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 21 Sep 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Simpson AMartin ACremers CFlechais IMartinovic IRasmussen KBertolino ACanfora GElbaum S(2015)Experiences in developing and delivering a programme of part-time education in software and systems securityProceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 210.5555/2819009.2819078(435-444)Online publication date: 16-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2819009.2819078

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents