2:00 - 2:30 |
Certifiably Safe Software-Dependent Systems: Challenges and Directions
The amount and impact of software-dependence in critical systems impinging on daily life is increasing rapidly. In many of these systems, inadequate software and systems engineering can lead to economic disaster, injuries or death. Society generally does not recognize the potential of losses from deficiencies of systems due to software until after some mishap occurs. Then there is an outcry, reflecting societal expectations; however, few know what it takes to achieve the expected safety and, in general, loss-prevention. On the one hand there are unprecedented, exponential increases in size, inter-dependencies, intricacies, numbers and variety in the systems and distribution of development processes across organizations and cultures. On the other hand, industry's capability to verify and validate these systems has not kept up. Mere compliance with existing standards, techniques, and regulations cannot guarantee the safety properties of these systems. The gap between practice and capability is increasing rapidly. This paper considers the future of software engineering as needed to support development and certification of safety-critical software-dependent systems. We identify a collection of challenges and document their current state, the desired state, gaps and barriers to reaching the desired state, and potential directions in software engineering research and education that could address the gaps and barriers.
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John Hatcliff, Alan Wassyng, Tim Kelly, Cyrille Comar, and Paul Jones |
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Kansas State University, USA; McMaster University, Canada; University of York, UK; AdaCore, France; US Food and Drug Administration, USA |
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2:30 - 3:00 |
Future of End-User Software Engineering: Beyond the Silos
End-user software engineering (EUSE) is a research area that aims to invent new kinds of technologies that collaborate with end users to improve the quality of their software. The practice that EUSE research aims to support is end users using new tools and methods to improve the quality of the software that they and other end users have created. There is a need for this outcome because research shows both that the number of end users creating their own software greatly exceeds the number of professional software developers, and that the software they create is riddled with errors. In this paper, we describe the present state of EUSE, and challenges in moving forward toward a bright future. We show how the future of EUSE may become over-siloed, restricting future researchers' vision of what can be achieved. We then show that focusing on the in-the-moment intents of end-user developers can be used to derive a number of promising directions forward for EUSE researchers, and how theories can help us further de-silo future EUSE research. Finally, we discuss how overcoming challenges for the future of end-user software engineering may also bring direct benefits to the future of "classic" software engineering.
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Margaret M. Burnett and Brad A. Myers |
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Oregon State University, USA; Carnegie Mellon University, USA |
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3:00 - 3:30 |
The Past, Present, and Future of MOOCs and Their Relevance to Software Engineering
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a recent development in online education aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. They are a potentially disruptive technology, changing how education is delivered and funded around the world. MOOCs are relevant to software researchers and practitioners, not only because they will increasingly receive lifelong education through MOOCs and related technologies, but also because content creation, delivery, and enhancement of MOOCs is evolving into a new form of socially- and cognitively-embedded software development. This paper discusses how education is being enhanced by MOOCs and other digital learning technology. In particular, we distinguish the free educational content provided by MOOCs from the emerging collaborative processes through which MOOCs are created, which is arguably more transformative on education than the content itself. We discuss blended models of higher education to suit different learner communities, as well as nascent moves toward the creation of instructional communities of educators that transcend institutional boundaries. We also explore MOOCs and their evolution as a subject for research in the learning sciences and implications for R&D in software and systems engineering.
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Balakrishnan Dasarathy, Kevin Sullivan, Douglas C. Schmidt, Douglas H. Fisher, and Adam Porter |
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University of Maryland University College, USA; University of Virginia, USA; Vanderbilt University, USA; University of Maryland at College Park, USA |