Teaching and Learning Software Requirements Engineering: Our Experience, Reflection and Improvement

Abstract

One problem faced by lecturers in teaching software requirements engineering subject is that it covers vast domain across multidisciplinary fields ranging from Social Science to Computer Science. Additionally, the not too practical but mainly theoretical exaggeration of the subject matter has made learning to be boring as seen by many Malaysian students. This paper shares the experience of teaching and learning software requirements engineering in Faculty of Computing and Informatics, Multimedia University under the Malaysian Software Testing Board Academic Outreach Program. Students’ feedback on the contents of reading materials, provided as complimentary for learning the software requirements engineering subject, are gathered and their comments are noted for improvement. The lecturers conducted a detailed analysis on the contents of reading materials and several suggestions for improvement on reading materials are presented. We believe that with further improvement on the contents of reading materials and certification examination together with our proposed Internet of Thing (IoT)-awared requirements engineering model, this academic outreach cum industry-link program shall continue to flourish in its effort to develop the nation with more professionals in requirements engineering. This is in-line with the 11th Malaysia Plan’s strategy of accelerating human capital development for an advanced nation, particularly in the era of IoT.