Integrating instructional and study materials to tailor a student-specific resource

Abstract

Courses about various software engineering practices, e.g. testing and architecture, all ultimately relate to a process for applying the practice. We have used that process as the organizing principle for undergraduate and graduate software engineering courses. The Software Process Engineering Meta-model (SPEM) provides a means for engineering a process for the specific practice being studied and even tailoring that process to the specific needs of a project. We have used the Eclipse Process Framework, an implementation of the SPEM, as a tool to allow instructors to create, modify and reuse a baseline electronic textbook as well as for students to collect, organize, and represent information in a form most meaningful to them. We present examples and data from one undergraduate introduction to software engineering course and two graduate courses in verification and validation and software architecture gathered over several years.