The workshop: a teaching tool for software development

Appeared in: Proc. of the 2nd Int Symposium in Engineering Education, pp 45-50, 28-31 october 1994, Limerick, Ireland.

ABSTRACT

At the Eindhoven University of Technology, one out of several two-years post-masters programmes in technological design is targeted to Software Technology. A considerable part of this programme is devoted to Software Engineering: how to manage large software design projects that involve many people, such that certain quality requirements are still met. Theoretical training in this subject is not enough, people have to experience the difficulties arising from the large scale themselves. For that reason a workshop is introduced into the programme. In this workshop, all students of a particular year (varying from 10 to 35 persons) work during one trimester on the development of a complex embedded system, including specification, design and implementation. They have to work in a project-based way, i.e. the process of developing has to be planned, controlled and adjusted based on past experience and progress. This form of teaching is extremely useful: the theoretical knowledge can be put into practice in a rather natural way, and students realize that project management methods, when properly applied, help to solve the social and planning problems.

Postscript