Faculty Contact Information:
| Prior to the start of the course, contact is via the email address shown above. Phone and address information will be available in the WebTycho classroom. | |
Consultation:
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Required Texts and Readings:
- American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American psychological association (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: APA.
- Thayer, R. H., & Dorfman, M. (Eds.). (1997). Software requirements engineering. (2nd ed.). Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press.
- Gause, D.C., & Weinberg, G. M. (1989). Exploring requirements: Quality before design. New York: Dorset House Publishing.
[Additional reading materials to be provided by the instructor.] | |
Supplementary Readings:
| All graduate students should be prepared to utilize theUMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
| Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended. In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that IT professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on- line. | |
Course Description:
| (Formerly MSWE 645.) An examination of major models of software requirements and specifications (sequential and concurrent systems), existing software standards and practices, and formal methods of software development. A comparative survey of various languages and methods serves to emphasize similarities and significant differences. Additional topics covered include writing system and software requirements, formal specification analysis, formal description reasoning, models of "standard" paradigms, and translations of such models into formal notations. | |
Course Goals:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should understand and be able to apply knowledge concerning:
- Major models of software requirements and specifications.
- Existing software standards and practices.
- Formal methods of software development.
- Current and emerging issues and trends in software engineering.
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Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion, the student should be able to:
- Demonstrate formal and pragmatic methods of major software requirements and specification techniques.
- Develop an analytic and broad view of existing software standards, practices and formal methods of software development, and recommend appropriate life cycle development processes.
- Demonstrate insight into evaluating and critiquing requirements for consistency and technical feasibility.
- Demonstrate insight into the application of formal and pragmatic techniques of specifying requirements.
- Show currency with events and developments in the software engineering field.
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Grading Information:
The final grade will be determined as follows:
5% - Week 1
80% - Weekly assignments (weeks 2-9, 10% each)
15% - Final Exam (Week 10)
Last date to withdraw is Friday, 13 Jun.
According to the Graduate School grading policy, the following symbols and scale are used:
A = excellent (90-100)
B = good (80-89)
C = passing (70-79)
F = failure (less than 70)
The grade of "B" represents the benchmark for the Graduate School. It indicates the student has demonstrated competency in the subject matter of the course, i.e., has fulfilled all course requirements on time, has a clear grasp of the full range of course materials and concepts, and is able to present and apply these materials and concepts in clear, reasoned, well-organized and grammatically correct responses, whether written or oral.
Only students who fully meet this standard and, in addition, who demonstrate exceptional comprehension and application of the course subject matter, merit an "A."
Students who do not meet the benchmark standard of competency fall within the "C" range or lower. They, in effect, have not met graduate level standards. Where this failure is substantial, they earn an "F." | |
Course Requirements:
The course requirements are as follows:
Examination: A cumulative, open book final examination will be given, to be completed during the last week of the course.
Group Project: Students will be assigned to project teams for the purpose of developing requirements and specifications for information technology support for a fictitious company. Contributions to the group project make up part of the grade for weekly work.
Weekly Work: There will be assignments of textbook readings, supplementary readings, research topics, discussion topics and individual exercises to be submitted via WebTycho. | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Successful graduate students in American universities dedicate approximately three hours of preparation/study time for every hour spent in the face-to-face classroom. Thus, the following course requirements were developed on the assumption that students would be prepared to spend approximately 150 hours of their own time working on them. In an 8-week term, that is the equivalent of a half-time job. Most 10-week graduate distance education courses require at least 14-5 hours per week of dedicated time, plus time spent in the virtual classroom.
STATEMENT ON WRITING REQUIREMENTS:
Effective managers and leaders are also effective communicators. Written communication is an important element of the total communication process. The Graduate School recognizes and expects exemplary writing to be the norm for course work. To this end, all analyses and papers must demonstrate graduate level writing ability and comply with the format requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. All writing assignments will be graded on the basis of content, logic, analysis, mechanics, organization, and research. Careful attention should be given to source citations, proper listing of references, the use of footnotes, and the presentation of tables and graphs. Work submitted online should follow standard procedures for formatting and citation.
POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic integrity is central to the learning and teaching process. Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that will contribute to the maintenance of academic integrity by making all reasonable efforts to prevent the occurrence of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to) obtaining or giving aid on an examination, having unauthorized prior knowledge of an examination, doing work for another student, and plagiarism of all types.
PLAGIARISM:
Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional presentation of another person's idea or product as one's own. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to the following: copying verbatim all or part of another's written work; using phrases, charts, figures, illustrations, or mathematical or scientific solutions without citing the source; paraphrasing ideas, conclusions, or research without citing the source; and using all or part of a literary plot, poem, film, musical score, or other artistic product without attributing the work to its creator. Students can avoid unintentional plagiarism by following carefully accepted scholarly practices. Notes taken for papers and research projects should accurately record sources of material to be cited, quoted, paraphrased, or summarized, and papers should acknowledge these sources in footnotes. The penalties for plagiarism include a zero or a grade of F on the work in question, a grade of F in the course, suspension with a file letter, suspension with a transcript notation, or expulsion.
Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.
DISABLED STUDENTS:
Students with disabilities should contact the Director of Student Services, phone: +49-6221- 378299, email: edstudent_svc@ed.umuc.edu, mailing address: Unit 29216. APO AE 09102 or Im Bosseldorn 30, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany.
COURSE EVALUATIONS:
Feedback on each graduate course and instructor is important to the university, your professor, and to all UMUC students. UMUC has the responsibility to assess the effectiveness of classroom instruction, and each student has the responsibility to provide accurate and timely feedback through completion of the course evaluation form. This is a shared obligation for us all. It is therefore important that you complete the evaluation form for each course you attend. This should be viewed as an additional course and program requirement. | |
Course Schedule:
Projected Course Schedule:
Week 1 (14 Apr): Introduction, Issues, Terminology
- Introduction, Course Structure, Projects
- Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- Problems in Software Development
Readings: Thayer & Dorfman, Chapter 1; Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Week 2 (21 Apr): Methodologies, More on System Requirements
- Purpose
- Waterfall, spiral, others
- Operations Concept
Readings: Gause & Weinberg, Chapter 1; Thayer & Dorfman, Chapter 2 (Forsberg, Fairley papers), Chapter 4 (Davis paper), Chapter 6; Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Week 3 (28 Apr): System Requirements
- Constraints, scope, sources
- Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
- Writing Good Requirements
Readings: Thayer & Dorfman, Chapter 3; Gause & Weinberg, Chapters 2-7, 16, 19-21, 23; Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Begin work on group project.
Week 4 (5 May): Requirements & Testing
- Test Cases
- Agreements and Ending
- Software Requirements: Behavioral
Readings: Gause & Weinberg, Chapters 22, 24, 25; Thayer & Dorfman, Chapter 4 (Svoboda, Reilly papers); Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students. Work continues on group project.
Week 5 (12 May): Standards
- Purpose
- CMMI, ISO 9000, ISO 12207, etc.
- Systems and Software Engineering
Readings: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi and additional Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students. Work continues on group projects.
Week 6 (19 May): Individual Development of Requirements
- Development of requirements for an assigned case study.
- Catch-up Week, for group projects and individual work.
Week 7 (26 May): Ethical Issues
- Software Development Codes of Ethics
- Case Studies
Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Work continues on group projects.
Week 8 (2 Jun) 8: Requirements Evaluation, Refinement
- Evaluation of Individual Requirements
- Presentation of Group Projects
Readings: in texts and Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Week 9 (9 Jun): CASE Tools and Evaluation of Group Projects
- Develop evaluation criteria for CASE tools
- evaluate CASE tools
Readings: Thayer & Dorfman, Chapter 5; Internet articles as assigned by the professor and/or located by the students.
Last date for withdrawal is Friday, 13 Jun.
Week 10 (16 Jun): Final Examination
All work must be submitted not later than midnight (German time) Sunday, 22 Jun, when the course ends, unless an arrangement has been made with the professor. | |
Academic Policies:
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The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/a a15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course.
Students with disabilities should contact the appropriate support office at UMUC-Europe.
Jan Keller, Director of Student Services
UMUC-Europe, Heidelberg
Phone: +49-6221-378299
Email: edstudent_svc@ed.umuc.edu
Mailing Address: Unit 29216, APO AE 09102 OR Im Bosseldorn 30, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany
Please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Code of Civility
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
| Dr. Dean earned the BA in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University, and the MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has worked at various times as a programmer, programmer/analyst, systems analyst, and project manager in the areas of medical information systems, small business support, and life insurance. Since 1975, she has been involved in teaching and curriculum development in computing, most recently at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, prior to joining UMUC - Europe. She has served for several years on the Board of Directors, and currently serves as President, of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC). She serves on the Regional Board of the CCSC Southeastern Conference, and as Associate Editor of the Journal for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Her areas of interest include curriculum development, database management systems, programming languages, and information security. | |