Course Syllabus

SE 4400 Software Engineering Practicum I

Course Description

This course is the first in a two-course sequence. The senior year practicum courses (SE4400 and SE4450) provide career preparation and guide students through a culminating major engineering design experience (capstone project). This capstone project allows students to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work while they solve a complex engineering problem utilizing appropriate engineering standards and multiple constraints.

Justification

This course is a required component of the ABET accreditation standards. This course is designed to meet the requirements the BSSE program and provides a culminating major engineering design experience that 1) incorporates appropriate engineering standards and multiple constraints, and 2) is based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work. This course is required for the BSSE degree.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will be better prepared to enter the job market by: increasing interviewing skills, job seeking skills, career awareness and career planning.
2. Students will demonstrate an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics. (ABET-SLO1)
3. Students will demonstrate an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. (ABET-SLO2)
4. Students will demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences. (ABET-SLO3)
5. Students will demonstrate an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts. (ABET-SLO4)
6. Students will demonstrate an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives. (ABET-SLO5)
7. Students will demonstrate an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions. (ABET-SLO6)
8. Students will demonstrate an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies. (ABET-SLO7)

Course Content

This course will consist of a practical software engineering capstone experience. Content covered through the experience will be dependent upon the project assigned to each student. It is expected that each experience will be unique as provided for by a professional sponsor or assigned by the instructor. However, key principles taught throughout the Software Engineering curriculum will be applied to each setting, such as: software design and construction, requirements analysis, security, verification, and validation; software engineering processes and tools appropriate for the development of complex software systems. The project will be large in scope, with no obvious solution, and will have many component parts and sub-problems. While producing a solution, students will apply an engineering design process in an iterative and creative decision-making process that meets desired needs and specifications within constraints. This process involves identifying opportunities, developing requirements, performing analysis and synthesis, generating multiple solutions, evaluating solutions against requirements, considering risks, and making trade-offs, for the purpose of obtaining a high-quality solution under the given circumstances. (ABET-Criterion 5)