Is integration of communication and technical instruction across the SE curriculum a viable strategy for improving the real-world communication abilities of software engineering graduates?

Abstract

Software engineering educators and trainers are acutely aware that software engineering graduates need strong real-world communication abilities. The National Science Foundation is supporting a three-year project in which industry professionals, CS/SE faculty, and communication-across-the-curriculum specialists are collaborating to develop curricula and teaching resources designed to improve communication abilities of CS/SE graduates by integrating communication instruction and assignments with the technical work in courses across the students' four years of study. Our panelists — an industry practitioner, a CS/SE educator, and a communication specialist — will describe what has been learned in the project's first half and invite comments, insights and advice from the audience.