Towards a GSE international teaching network: Mapping Global Software Engineering courses (original) (raw)
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Challenges and Recommendations for the Design and Conduct of Global Software Engineering Courses
Proceedings of the 2015 ITiCSE on Working Group Reports - ITICSE-WGR '15, 2015
Context: Global Software Engineering (GSE) has become the predominant form of software development for global companies and has given rise to a demand for students trained in GSE. In response, universities are developing courses and curricula around GSE and researchers have begun to disseminate studies of these new approaches. Problem: GSE differs from most other computer science fields, however, in that practice is inseparable from theory. As a result, educators looking to create GSE courses face a daunting task: integrating global practice into the local classroom. Aim: This study aims to ameliorate the very difficult task of teaching GSE by delineating the challenges and providing some recommendations for overcoming them. Method: To meet our aims we pose two research questions ("When teaching GSE to students in Higher Education, what are the (a) challenges, and (b) recommendations for addressing them") and then conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) to determine the answers to these questions. Our SLR follows a carefully designed and validated protocol. Results: We found 82 papers that addressed our research questions. Our findings indicate that in addition to the challenges posed by GSE in general, particular problems arise in educational situations. The majority of these challenges fall into the "global distance" category, though teamwork challenges and people issues (such as trust) also commonly arise. Organizational differences between institutions, differing skill sets between students in different locations, and varying cultural work norms, for example, all operate within educational settings in quite different ways than in professional development teams. Integrating cultural training, conducting teamwork exercises to build trust, and instructor monitoring of team communication are all examples of techniques that have been used successfully by educators according to our review Conclusion: Despite the severity of the challenges in GSE education, many institutions have successfully developed courses and curricula targeting GSE. Indeed, for each of the challenges we have identified in the literature there are numerous recommendations for overcoming them. Instructors can use the recommendations given in this study as a starting point to running successful GSE courses.
Developments in Global Software Engineering Education
2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2016
An ITiCSE 2015 conference working group report has recently delivered a comprehensive systematic review of the literature addressing the challenges and solutions in teaching global software engineering courses. In this panel session, a group of authors of that report will review the findings, and present their own views on teaching such courses, the pros and cons and their own motivations and experiences, together with strategies that have proven effective. We argue that these courses are critical for preparing students for practice as software engineers in today's global settings, but they are certainly not for the faint-hearted. After the review and presentation of position statements by panelists there will be a question and answer session with the audience and a discussion elaborating on the next frontiers in research and practice for global software engineering education.
Educational experiences from a Global Software Engineering (GSE) project
Proceedings of the sixth …, 2004
Technological advancement in the Internet and other areas of communication have made the idea of collaborative projects with other people who might be physically located on separate sites more feasible. There are many benefits that can result from the wider scope of interactions that is afforded by these developments, such as taking advantage of available expert resources that might exist in various parts of the world -for example in emerging IT centres in India and China. Also, a wellintegrated team made up of a cross-cultural group can be more equipped to meet demands associated with a heterogeneous market. However there are some problems in getting these disparate teams to work together effectively. In this paper, we discuss some of the issues that were encountered during our collaboration with the Technical University of Munich in running a joint software engineering project that involved the development of a multi-player online game environment running on multiple platforms on a peer-to-peer wireless networking environment. We also discuss lessons learned and provide some recommendations for improving the processes associated with a global software engineering project.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2011
As part of the ongoing globalization process, software is no longer developed by a sole enterprise which is based at one single location only. In turn, distributed engineering teams are continuously modifying software by bringing in their local knowledge and country-specific expertise. Due to this cooperation on a globalscale, today's software engineers require distinct skills and capabilities allowing them to face a paradigm called Global Software Engineering (GSE). However, regarding today's universities curricula, the teaching of GSE can be seen as an emerging discipline which is increasingly gaining attention. This paper depicts the progression and lessons learned from four different globally distributed software engineering projects executed by late bachelor and master students from five different universities. In doing so, the article facilitates future GSE endeavors in academia and industry.
Preparing Computer Science Students for Global Software Development
2006
This paper describes an innovative study undertaken in an undergraduate capstone software engineering course to give students exposure to the realities of global software development. In this study, students from Pace University in New York worked as part of an extended team with students from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, developing software for Cambodian customers. This paper explains the goals of the study, describes the teams and their projects, and emphasizes the required logistics for a study of this nature. The findings are discussed, and some lessons for computer science education and global software development are provided. The paper finishes with a brief account of our continuing work in the area.
Globalizing Software Development in the Local Classroom
20th Conference on Software Engineering Education & Training (CSEET'07), 2007
Given the requirement for software engineering graduates to operate in Global Software Development (GSD) environments, educators need to develop teaching methods to enhance and instill GSD knowledge in their students. In this paper, we discuss two projects that provided students with a first-hand learning experience of working within GSD teams. One project was with Siemens Corporate Research, whose focus was to shadow the development of a real-life GSD project. The second project, whose focus was virtual team software testing, was carried out in collaboration with Ball State University. In parallel with these projects we undertook qualitative research during which we analyzed students' own written reflections and face-to-face interviews that focused on their learning experiences in these contexts. We identified three specific forms of learning which had taken place: pedagogical, pragmatic and the acquisition of specific globally distributed knowledge. Our findings confirm that mimicking real work settings has educational benefits for problem-based learning environments.
Globalising Software Development in the Local Classroom
Given the requirement for software engineering graduates to operate in Global Software Development (GSD) environments, educators need to develop teaching methods to enhance and instill GSD knowledge in their students. In this paper, we discuss two projects that provided students with a first-hand learning experience of working within GSD teams. One project was with Siemens Corporate Research, whose focus was to shadow the development of a real-life GSD project. The second project, whose focus was virtual team software testing, was carried out in collaboration with Ball State University. In parallel with these projects we undertook qualitative research during which we analyzed students’ own written reflections and face-to-face interviews that focused on their learning experiences in these contexts. We identified three specific forms of learning which had taken place: pedagogical, pragmatic and the acquisition of specific globally distributed knowledge. Our findings confirm that mimicking real work settings has educational benefits for problem-based learning environments.