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This program is tentative and subject to change.

Tue 29 Apr 2025 14:00 - 14:20 at 206 - Soft Skills and Professional Development

Requirements Engineering (RE) is a challenging topic to teach, especially when not all students see the value in learning it. Students have limited experience with RE before graduation, even after taking a required RE class and doing internships. In contrast, alumni from our program often highlight RE as one of the more important classes they take. To address this gap, we investigated current industry practices and compare that with students’ perspectives. We conducted surveys with computer science and software engineering alumni (N=116) and upperclassmen (N=38), asking both groups for their thoughts on RE and examples of where it has shown up in their (budding) careers. We also interviewed survey respondents (N=12) to add more detailed examples of RE. We found that while both alumni and students find the class important, many students have negative impressions of RE and do not have opportunities to gain experience outside of our RE course or capstone. Alumni shared what the current state of RE looks like in practice, such as how some only receive requirements secondhand. Also, their examples highlight how intertwined software engineering areas can be, such as the frequent overlap with software design. We discuss these findings, including recommendations for teaching requirements engineering to undergraduates.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Tue 29 Apr

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

14:00 - 15:30
Soft Skills and Professional DevelopmentCSEE&T at 206
14:00
20m
Talk
Some Experience Required: Comparing Professional Requirements Engineering Experience to Students’ Perspectives
CSEE&T
Ben Jelen Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Stephen Sher Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Helena Donaldson Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Gloria Liou Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Amanda Stouder Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Steve Chenoweth Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Mark Hays Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
14:20
20m
Talk
Fostering Qualified Software Engineers via Software Engineering Conversion Programmes
CSEE&T
Zheng Li Queen's University Belfast, UK
14:40
20m
Talk
Embracing Experiential Learning: Hackathons as an Educational Strategy for Shaping Soft Skills in Software Engineering
CSEE&T
Allysson Allex Araújo Federal University of Cariri, Marcos Kalinowski Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Maria Teresa Baldassarre Department of Computer Science, University of Bari
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