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Reuse a "Software Reuse" Course

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Conference

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Vancouver, BC

Publication Date

June 26, 2011

Start Date

June 26, 2011

End Date

June 29, 2011

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Accreditation and Assessment in SE Programs

Tagged Division

Software Engineering Constituent Committee

Page Count

14

Page Numbers

22.1254.1 - 22.1254.14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--18921

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/18921

Download Count

532

Paper Authors

biography

Nan Niu Mississippi State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5566-2368

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Nan Niu is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Mississippi State University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2009 from the University of Toronto, where he specialized in requirements engineering for software product lines. His research interests include software reuse, requirements engineering, program comprehension, and software engineering education. He is a member of IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, and ASEE.

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biography

Donna Reese Mississippi State University

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Donna Reese is a professor and interim head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Mississippi State University. She has been at Mississippi State since 1989 and served for six years as associate dean for the Bagley College of Engineering. She is a senior member of ACM and IEEE and was recently recognized by Tau Beta Pi with the McDonald Mentoring award.

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Kui Xie Mississippi State University

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Kui Xie is an assistant professor of Instructional Technology at Mississippi State University. He received his Ph.D. in Instructional Psychology and Technology in 2006 from University of Oklahoma. His research interests include instructional design, computer-supported collaborative learning, motivation and cognition engagement in distance learning.

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Chris Smith Mississippi State University

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Dr. Smith is the Richard A. Rula Chair in Construction Engineering and Management and Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Mississippi State University. He is a former U.S. Navy SEABEE Officer and has managed projects and programs worldwide. He has been accepted as an expert by the U.S. Court of Federal Contract Claims in the areas of Cost and Schedule. He is a former executive with Hill International and FTI Consulting and has been associated with the construction of Boston's Central Artery Tunnel, Dubai Mall in the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford, Washington.

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Abstract

Reuse a “Software Reuse” CourseAbstractSoftware reuse is the use of existing software artifacts and knowledge to construct new software.Systematic reuse has always been a major goal in software engineering since it promises largegains in productivity, quality, and time-to-market reduction. One of the main reasons softwarereuse has not been systematically practiced is due to the lack of education: In a survey collectedfrom 113 respondents from 29 organizations, primarily in the US, only 13% said they hadlearned about reuse in school [1].This paper presents the creation of a graduate-level seminar course on software reuse in a USinstitution whose software engineering program aims to educate students with strong technicalskills so they can start work as productive members on a software development team. Ratherthan reinventing the wheel in curriculum development, we adapted a software reuse coursedeveloped by Frakes at Virginia Tech [2].This paper reviews the objectives of software reuse education, describes the reuse of Frakes’course modules and assessments, and discusses the modifications we made in our course. Inparticular, we modified our course by incorporating two pedagogical principles: active learningand collaborative learning. Redesigning the course from a lecture format to a seminar formatallowed the students to play active roles in leading the classes and in discovering term papertopics that suited to their own research interests. Fostering collaborations among students andinteractions between students and instructor allowed the students to recognize their individualaccountability to the success of the group and the entire course. This paper reports instructorexperiences, analysis of student feedback, lessons learned and recommendations for othereducators considering the application of an active and cooperative learning approach for theirsoftware reuse courses both at graduate and undergraduate levels.Bibliography[1] W. B. Frakes and C. J. Fox. Sixteen Questions About Software Reuse. Communications ofthe ACM, 38(6): 75-87, June 1995.[2] W. B. Frakes. A Graduate Course on Software Reuse, Domain Analysis, and Re-engineering.In Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Workshop for Institutionalizing Software Reuse, Owego, NY,USA, November 1993.

Niu, N., & Reese, D., & Xie, K., & Smith, C. (2011, June), Reuse a "Software Reuse" Course Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18921

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