Upgrading the ICT curriculum of a multi-disciplinary degree evolving from practical orientation to university integration

In Flanders, Belgium the master degree of industrial engineering has just been integrated into the universities, imposing a shift from a more practical point of view to a tighter relation between (applied) research and education. A similar process is taking place in several European countries. This paper tells the success story of how to upgrade the ICT component of the program while maintaining both the success rate and the satisfaction of students, in the constrained context of a multidisciplinary degree with some students and collegues wanting to delve deeper opposed to many students not interested in ICT. The paper discusses several design choices throughout the 4 year program with a focus on software engineering principles and increasing integration of research. The paper also presents a BlueJ extension which enables students to autonomously evaluate their adherence to international coding standards and the use of Javadoc. Putting the stakes high and avoiding the pitfall "Modest expectations give modest results", we reward the students with a challenging environment and they reward us with projects both we and the students are proud of.

Jaar van publicatie:2014

Toegankelijkheid:Open