Software engineering in the Johns Hopkins university continuing professional programs

Abstract

The need to educate computer professionals about the process, methods and tools used to create and maintain software systems is being met by The Johns Hopkins University at three levels. In the graduate program, which offers an M.S. in computer science to part-time students, a course in software engineering recently has been established as a degree requirement. At a second level, students in the program with an interest in software engineering may choose from a relatively comprehensive group of courses. Finally, at a third level, a short course program makes much of the same material available to non-matriculating professionals in a two to five full-day format. This paper describes the program, details the offerings, provides measures of the size and impact of the software engineering effort, and makes some general observations about the teaching of software engineering to practicing professionals.