Transforming programming-intensive courses with course-embedded research

• DOI: 10.1145/2380552.2380612
• Publication Date: 2012-10-12T16:13:49Z
• Authors: Evelyn Brannock; Nannette Napier; Kristine Nagel
• Keywords: 4. Education; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology

In this paper, we discuss the Software Engineering Research Project (SERP) initiated at GGC College, a public four-year institution in southeastern United States. The long-term goal of SERP involves motivating students to pursue graduate degrees, research careers, or challenging industry work. Before students can engage in software engineering research, they need to develop a deeper appreciation for professional practice, scholarly literature, and research paradigms. To that end, we have identified activities to embed in two junior-level programming-intensive courses: Software Development I and Advanced Programming. Our three-pronged approach includes attendance at professional events, participation in a research project, and exposure to computing research at a leading research university. In this paper, we detail our goals and objectives for the SERP program, illustrate a course redesign for two of the courses, and provide initial results from a pilot study.