22nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training

IT SPIRAL: A Case Study in Scalable Software Engineering
Education
Michael Barker, Katsuro Inoue
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Osaka University
mbarker@is.naist.jp, inoue@ist.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract
IT SPIRAL is a collaborative project by nine universities and four industries to develop acommon curriculum for teaching software engineering. It combines existing foundation
educational practices at the individual universities, a shared DVD library on advanced
software engineering topics, and common intensive sessions led by industry participants. It
aims to develop advanced IT skills in top-level students, shared educational skills andmaterials among the universities, and practical cooperation with industry to focus andadvance masters level software engineering education. IT SPIRAL combines fundamentals,advanced topics, and a practical focus in a scalable approach to developing world-classsoftware engineers.

1. Introduction
Scalable software engineering education can use methods developed in the testbed of
the IT Specialist Program Initiative for Reality-based Advanced Learning (IT SPIRAL).
The use of a library of DVD-based lectures and presentations for basic and advancedsoftware engineering topics allows rapid and efficient increase in the number ofstudents. The intensive practical sessions leverage the participation of industry partners
to allow effective work with the students in a way that also can be rapidly increased inscale.

2. What is IT SPIRAL?
IT Specialist Program Initiative for Reality-based Advanced Learning (IT SPIRAL)
is a collaboration of nine universities and four industries in the Kansai area in Japanthat provides a common foundation for teaching software engineering using thestrengths of the universities and industries in collaboration. It is a new approach toteaching software engineering for Japan, using the combined expertise and knowledgeof universities and industry in a combination of video lectures provided by theuniversities, team exercises, and instruction and practice under the direction of industry
participants. The goals of the project include developing advanced IT skills among
selected students, cooperation among universities in providing software engineering
educational materials, and cooperation with industry in providing a practical focus tomaster's level software engineering education.
IT SPIRAL grew out of two observations. First, industry and the modern world
increasingly depend on software intensive systems. Problems with such systems areoften more social issues than purely technical difficulties. We have already seen such
incidents in banking systems, stock exchanges, traffic control systems and other areas.
Second, there is an insufficient supply of skillful software engineers. The Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) called for projects
under the name of the "Leading IT Specialist Program" to expand practical software
978-0-7695-3539-5/09 $25.00 © 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/CSEET.2009.23

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engineering education in graduate universities in Japan to help reduce the gap between
increasing demands and insufficient numbers and quality [1]. The requirement forcollaboration between universities and industry was a fundamental part of the projects.
MEXT selected and funded six projects for four years out of 26 proposals from various
universities.

Figure 1. The IT Spiral GroupIn the Kansai area, MEXT selected IT Spiral, headed by Osaka University, for its
unique collaboration with many university software engineering professionals andresearchers. This project includes nine universities in Kansai area listed in Table 1 andfour industries as shown in Figure 1. Although others were interested, the initial project
was limited to that group.
Table 1. IT Spiral Universities
Member Universities
大阪大学
大阪工業大学
京都大学
高知工科大学神戸大学
奈良先端科学技術大学院大学
兵庫県立大学
立命館大学
和歌山大学

Osaka University
Osaka Institute of Technology
Kyoto University
Kochi University of Technology
Kobe University
Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST)
Hyogo University
Ritsumeikan University
Wakayama University

3. What is special about IT Spiral?
IT SPIRAL intends to develop top-level software engineers with technicalbackground for the long term. It deliberately focuses on selecting talented students andencouraging world-class software development activity. It provides systematic software
engineering education. One of the key realizations in developing the collaborative

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curriculum has been that it is not enough for students to know that they can use aparticular method to develop something or that they use some tool in a particular way.
Instead, IT SPIRAL encourages students to ask why this method works, and are there
any other ways to do things. This shift from knowledge, comprehension, andapplication -- Bloom's lower levels -- to analysis, evaluation, synthesis and even further
into creativity and transfer into new domains of thought [2] has not been easy, but it isconsidered a necessary part of the new curriculum, as shown in Figure 2. Appendix Dof the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) described
Bloom's Taxonomy [3].

Figure 2. The Intersection of Goal and SE Education
Three elements help to develop the desired talent. First, the project involves top
educators, researchers, and industry leaders in the Kansai area. Second, the project isselective, with 40 top-quality students each year. Third, the curriculum and materials
were developed for this purpose drawing on resources of all nine universities and fourindustries.
The curriculum builds on three core concepts. It begins by systematically teachingfundamental subjects related to software development, the basic skills of software
engineering. It also teaches new trends, techniques, and research with the theories
behind them, to encourage the capability of continuous learning and adaptation. Finally,
the curriculum provides practical development opportunities, encouraging practicalskills.
The classes also reflect this threefold division. Each graduate school assigns andteaches fundamental software engineering subjects to students at their university.
Faculty from all of the universities have developed a shared library of DVD lectures

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and associated exercises or materials on advanced software engineering subjects, which
each university can use in their own way to enhance the software engineering education
for their students. During the first year, this produced 60 one-hour lectures organized
into 12 volumes focusing on various advanced topics such as:
Code Clones
UML design
Meta-modeling

MCU Architectures
Data Mining
Software repositories

Agile Methods
Real-Time Software
Components

Software Patterns
Web-based software
Frameworks

Finally, industry lecturers with university teaching assistants teach the practicalsoftware engineering subjects. These sessions are especially important because theybring the real world of software engineering into the academic programs and challenge
the students [4]. The students from all nine universities go to Nakanoshima Center, acommon meeting point, for six hours of intensive work on alternative Fridays. Figure 3
shows the students at work during the common intensive session. The DVD library andintensive sessions reflect the reversal of the lecture/homework paradigm, since theDVDs can be watched whenever convenient, allowing the intensive sessions to focus onquestions, exercises, and problem-based learning [5].

Figure 3. The IT SPIRAL Intensive
IT SPIRAL used the Computing Curricula 2005 (CC 2005) [6] and SWEBOK [3]materials extensively during design of the curriculum. One of the areas of discussion
during the curriculum design process looked at the existing expertise in the 10
SWEBOK areas. Figure 4 shows the mapping of expertise by the various universities
against those areas. This helped identify, for example, the two schools that could
provide materials and expertise in software requirements. The university names havebeen removed from the column headings in this chart to protect confidentiality.
While there are known concerns about the SWEBOK and CC 2005 recommendations[1], these were available while IT SPIRAL was developing. IT SPIRAL intends toparticipate in the new Graduate Software Engineering Reference Curriculum project(GSwERC) [7].

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Figure 4. Mapping SWEBOK Expertise
IT SPIRAL can also be considered in terms of pedagogical frameworks such as thatof the National Survey of Student Engagement [8]. Although the measures are informal,IT SPIRAL has set high expectations for student achievement (level of academicchallenge). The three branches of the IT SPIRAL curriculum encourage student
involvement with the educational process, and application of knowledge in various
situations (Active and collaborative learning). Industry experts, teaching assistants, andfaculty interact with the students as role models and mentors (Student-facultyinteraction). The varied learning opportunities clearly enhance the educational
environment of IT SPIRAL (Enriching educational experience). Finally, the universities
involved promote involvement in the program (supportive campus environment).

4. What has IT SPIRAL done?
One of the key questions for a project such as this is how to measure theeffectiveness, as suggested in Figure 5. For the IT SPIRAL project, the most importantmeasure is fostering top-level software engineers who can demonstrate that they havemastered practical software engineering techniques. A related important result is thepromotion of cooperation between the universities and industries in developing toplevel software engineers.
First, it has developed a common one-year curriculum for software engineering
masters students in the Kansai area that includes emphasis on basic skills, advanced
topics, and practical capabilities. Second, it provides a model for university andindustry collaboration in such education, combining local classes, a shared DVD libraryof lectures, and bi-weekly common intensive practical sessions. Third, it has raised anumber of questions about the best way to share materials, projects, assignments, tests,
and similar parts of the educational experience.
Our experience with the shared DVD library indicates that teaching assistants caneasily show the DVDs to a class, freeing the faculty from repetitive lectures. Copying
the DVDs and sending them to other universities allows a single expert to reach many
more students. Our experience also shows that simply showing the DVDs is not very
effective. However, having the teaching assistants stop the DVDs at natural pauses and57

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ask the students to discuss the main points or any questions increases the interest andinvolvement of the students with the material significantly. Structured interaction lets
the students teach each other and develop deeper knowledge of the material beingtaught [7].

Figure 5. Measuring EffectivenessOne measure of the influence of IT SPIRAL is the distribution beyond the corestudents. For example, one report indicates that while 42 students are involved in thecore lectures, 253 students from the nine universities have used the DVD library, and1293 students have taken part in the fundamental courses. Additionally, the DVD
library and other teaching materials are already being requested and loaned to otherinstitutions of higher education such as the Osaka City University and Keio University
graduate schools, and industry. Also, there are plans for an international symposium inJanuary 2009.
Table 2 shows selected results from a recent survey of faculty and industry leadersinvolved in the project about some key parts of the IT SPIRAL project:
Table 2. Selected Survey Results
PURPOSE••••

DIFFERENCES•••

The main purpose is practical software development training.
Enterprises benefit from developing and obtaining IT talent tosupport Japanese information technology.
Students obtain basic skills for IT talent, including
communications technology and management understanding.
Universities improve their educational approach throughcooperation and experimentation with new educational methods.
Students can meet people from other universities and industry.
Corporate lecturers bring experience with actual development
process
Software development is covered from early requirements to58

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•RESULTS••••

testing,
Highlights the importance of estimation and project
management.
The use of video materials with team exercises
Improved communications skills and the practical softwaredevelopment attitude among students.
A library of video materials, practical lectures, and courseware
for real projects.
High student satisfaction ratings, industry obtains high quality
graduates, and the growth of intercollegiate cooperation.

6. What are the recommendations and lessons learned?
One of the areas for future discussion and collaboration concerns the shared libraries andother products of IT SPIRAL. While the focus in the first years has been on lecture materials,
the project has also developed exercises and practice materials. The IT SPIRAL project also
intends to document the curriculum and pedagogical framework and make it available forother universities to build on. The project is also working on shared tests and assessments andwe expect that developing consistent methods for assessment of the IT SPIRAL students canprovide another useful shared body of materials. At this point, all of the IT SPIRAL materials
are shared among the project members, however as the project continues we will also
examine possibilities such as placing the IT SPIRAL classes in OpenCourseware or Creative
Commons licensing, subject to MEXT approval.
One of the areas for future development concerns undergraduate preparation leading to theMaster's Level IT SPIRAL studies. For example, it might be helpful to recommend anundergraduate curriculum that would lead naturally to the IT SPIRAL courses. Also, we willconsider ways to reuse the IT SPIRAL materials in other Master's level programs. Forexample, various other courses at the nine universities have already used the DVD lectures. A
final consideration for future planning of the IT SPIRAL program concerns the continuing
education all of the students, both academic and lifelong learning or industrial. After students
graduate from the program, should IT SPIRAL provide continuing access for them? Forexample, as the project develops new DVD lectures on new topics, should the graduates
receive a newsletter and be able to visit the university library if they are interested inwatching one of the new topics? In essence, the IT SPIRAL project needs to be integrated
with undergraduate, other graduate programs, and continuing education programs at all nine
universities and in the industrial partners.
IT SPIRAL has shown that cooperation between universities and industry can provide awider range of educational materials and more depth. It has also shown that involving
industry directly in the educational experience benefits the universities, the students, andindustry. Finally, it has shown that video materials, team projects, and practical experience
provide students with necessary academic background and good practical experience withapplying that knowledge.
Can the methods used by IT SPIRAL provide scalable, effective software engineering
education? The DVD library certainly provides a solution to scalable shared materials, andfrees faculty from repetitive lecturing. The use of team exercises and industry partners inpractical intensives provides a powerful learning experience, but would require additional
participation by more industry partners to grow. It isn't a panacea, but it is a start.

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Acknowledgement
Thisprojectissupported
byMinistryofEducation,Culture,Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT), Leading IT Specialist Training
Promotion Program. We are grateful to the people from 9 universities
and 4 companies.

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Degree Programs." Proceedings, 21st Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, April 2008, pp.
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[2] N. Stankovic. "Single Development Project." Proceedings, 21st Conference on Software Engineering
Education and Training, April 2008, pp. 171-178[3] A. Abran, J. W. Moore, P. Bourque, R. Dupuis. Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge: 2004
Edition - SWEBOK. IEEE Computer Society. April 2005.
[4] W. L. Honig "Teaching Successful 'Real-World' Software Engineering to the 'Net' Generation: Process andQuality Win!" Proceedings, 21st Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, April 2008, pp.2532.
[5] J. Foertsch, G. Moses, J. Strikwerda, M. Litzkow. "Reversing the lecture / homework paradigm using eTEACH
Web-based streaming video software." Journal of Engineering Education, July 2002, pp. 267-274.
[6] ACM. Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report. September 2005.
[7] A. Pyster. Graduate Software Engineering Reference Curriculum [GSwERC] Version 0.50, Stevens Institute ofTechnology, October 2008.
[8] K.A. Smith, S.D. Sheppard, D.W. Johnson, R.T. Johnson. "Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-BasedPractices." Journal of Engineering Education, January 2005, pp. 87-101.

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