The Targeted Infusion Project entitled - Engaging Minority Students in Software Engineering Through Active Learning - seeks to adapt and implement industry practices in a software engineering course. The project will construct, teach, and assess a course that immerses students in realworld software engineering practices through active learning. Students will work in an interactive environment in which they are instructed on new techniques and then mentored in the use of those techniques through a series of hands-on exercises. The faculty at Alabama State University will work in collaboration with the software engineering faculty at Auburn University to develop a software process that fits the educational environment.
The objectives of the project are to adapt software development industry best practices to classroom use; incorporate software development tools into a student-friendly software development environment; develop innovative learning materials and teaching strategies for integrating and effectively using software industry best practices in software engineering courses through active learning; Beta-test instructional material; analyze achievement of outcomes through student and industry feedback; and develop a web portal to provide communication and dissemination for the project community as well for other HBCU's and computing educators.
It is expected that this project to have a significant impact on how software engineering courses are taught and how students learn these concepts. The development of learning materials and teaching strategies will be guided through the participation of faculty from diverse institutions, including high schools, two-year and four-year colleges, and of industrial practitioners.