Computer Society and University of California Irvine Team Up on MOOC

Computer Society and University of California Irvine Team Up on Software Engineering Body of Knowledge MOOC LOS ALAMITOS, Calif., 28 January 2014 – IEEE Computer Society and University of California Irvine are partnering to host a massive open online course (MOOC) to share the new version of the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) with students, software developers, engineers, and educators.

The three-week course, "top Writing Embarrassing Code: SWEBOK Version 3.0 Best Practices for Software Development," will be taught by IEEE Computer Society Vice President of Professional Activities Don Shafer, an internationally recognized expert in software engineering practices.

The course will begin on 17 February 2014, and meet from 10-11a.m. PST each Tuesday and Thursday. Presentations will be followed by an open discussion forum, a quiz, and a review of comments raise during the discussion. To register, visit http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/courses/MOOC. The course is free and open to everyone. Each program participant will receive a complimentary electronic copy of the latest SWEBOK Guide, which builds upon Version 2.0 by adding significant content developed and approved by an international team of software experts.

"As the world of software development and software engineering grows and expands, glitches, malfunctions, breakdowns, and failures become more commonplace," said Shafer. "But many of them can be prevented by the use of software engineering best practices. The recent healthcare.gov failure is an example of a situation that was both predictable and greatly preventable."

The new MOOC will discuss the importance of the SWEBOK Guide to software development and the software engineering field. It will focus on best practices, techniques, and approaches used for successful software development, implementation, and evolution.

"This represents a unique event–the first time a university and a professional society have collaborated to present a software engineering MOOC," said Jean-Luc Gaudiot, IEEE Computer Society Vice President of Educational Activities and a computer science professor at UCI. "This is the future direction of education. It goes well beyond the conventional lecture.

It may not be in its final form. We have to experiment and lead the way."

MOOCs are being viewed as a means of bringing education into the hands of a broad global audience, using interactive methods such as video, discussion forums, and presentations. Some of the more well-known MOOCs draw tens of thousands of students.

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