Home // ICSEA 2015, The Tenth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances // View article


Using Cloud Services To Improve Software Engineering Education for Distributed Application Development

Authors:
Jorge Edison Lascano
Stephen W. Clyde

Keywords: computer science education; software-engineering education; cloud computing; virtual environments; distributed systems.

Abstract:
Software-engineering education should help students improve other development skills besides design and coding. These skills, referred to here as A2R (Analysis to Reuse), include analysis, technology evaluation, prototyping, testing, and reuse. The need for improved A2R skills is particularly pronounced in advanced areas like distributed application development. Hands-on programming assignments can be an important means for improving A2R skills, but only if they focus on the right details. This paper presents a case study of programming assignments offered in a graduate-level class on distributed application development, where the assignments required the students to use cloud services and programming tools that were heretofore unfamiliar to the students. Direct observation by the instructor and a post-class survey provided evidence that the assignments did in fact help students improve their A2R skills. The post-class survey also yielded some interesting insights about the potential impact of well-designed programming assignments, which in term led to ideas for future research.

Pages: 438 to 444

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2015

Publication date: November 15, 2015

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4235

ISBN: 978-1-61208-438-1

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Dates: from November 15, 2015 to November 20, 2015