A “Software and Systems” Integration Framework for Teaching Requirements Engineering

Most of the engineered systems used in our daily lives include some sort of a computing unit that runs software. The integration of systems engineering and software engineering disciplines to enhance the engineering design process grew significantly in the last decades to become the norm in the engineering world. Consequently, a coordinated approach is needed to educate the new generation of systems engineers able to design and build the integrated engineering and software systems. At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, there is an effort underway to do just that: integrate the software engineering and systems engineering education for graduate engineering students. The effort started in the Fall 2013 semester with a combined offering of the “Software Requirements Engineering” and “System Requirements Analysis and Modeling” courses. Serving as instructor for the “combined software and systems requirements” course comes with inherent challenges due to students’ different backgrounds, but also provides opportunities for the instructor to address the need for coordinated software and systems engineering education. This work reports the pedagogical methodologies used and the findings uncovered during the entire offering of the “combined software and systems requirements” course.