Teaching the Unknown and the Unknowable in Requirements Engineering Education

Author

Barnes, Raymond J. ; Gause, Donald C. ; Way, Eileen C.

Author_Institution

St. Elizabeth Med. Center, State Univ. of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY

fYear

2008

fDate

8-8 Sept. 2008

Firstpage

30

Lastpage

37

Abstract

A challenge in teaching students about the "realities" of requirements engineering (RE) in systems design involves managing requirements change and uncertainty, with all the associated unknowns and unknowable. This paper aims to inspire a discussion for why knowing the unknown and unknowable of RE is a critical design skill. We describe how we might go about fostering an attitude of acceptance versus resistance and fear of the unknown and unknowable in RE, and help develop an important skill in systems design students. The classroom experiences, successes and challenges are described, and suggestions offered for future work.

Keywords

computer science education; systems analysis; teaching; requirements engineering education; systems design; teaching; Biomedical engineering; Design engineering; Engineering education; Engineering management; Immune system; Risk analysis; Software design; System analysis and design; Systems engineering and theory; Uncertainty;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Requirements Engineering Education and Training, 2008. REET '08.

Conference_Location

Barcelona

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4086-3

Electronic_ISBN

978-0-7695-3628-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/REET.2008.6

Filename

4797460