GRCSE History

GRCSE History

• GRCSE team established at BKCASE II at Daytona Beach, March 2010– Team has remained fairly stable since

• A couple of additions to the team• About 15 members, most are academic

staff/faculty

– Regular WebEx audio meetings• Fortnightly most of the time from March to

mid November

GRCSE History

• GRCSE team face to face meetings:– Chicago, July 2010, BKCASE III– Toulouse, October 2010, BKCASE IV

GRCSE Material Development

• March 2010– Start with GSWE2009 as an example of

something like what we are producing• Explicit decision – to be very critical of GSWE2009 to ensure GRCSE reflects our considered opinion about what is needed in GRCSE


• April 2010– Conducted a survey of existing programs

• To get an understanding of the current state of SE education at Masters level – globally

• About 32 responses from 5 continents• Approx 50% response rate, and 50% US/50%

non-US• Results reported in Appendix A• Deliberately only at a statistical summary level

to avoid potential problems related to identity of education providers


• April 2010– Drafting of Chapter 2

• Guiding principles• Similar to GSWE2009, but with a few

additional items• This work assisted the authors to come into

agreement about our position


• May-July 2010– Drafting of initial form of some

appendices and chapters• This work was important in shaping the

direction of GRCSE


• May-July 2010– Major concepts introduced

• Use of Bloom’s taxonomy to describe outcomes and kinds of achievement – and addition of Affective Domain

• Decision to include Objectives (achievement 3-5 years after graduation) as a separate chapter

• Concept of Core Knowledge needed in all SE programs + Extended Core for particular emphases – expressed in Architecture and CorBOK chapter

• Include chapter concerning assessment methods


• July-October 2010– Developed initial forms of more chapters– Prepared first draft release to share with

whole BKCASE team (before BKCASE IV)• Discussion at BKCASE IV – to identify

changes needed prior to v0.25 release


• October-November 2010– Developed initial forms of remaining

chapters– Responded to comments at BKCASE IV

• Changes to the architecture chapter• First attempt to populate the CorBOK table

to guide the placement of topics in relation to the target purpose of the program (only at level of topics – no levels of expected attainment)


• 19 November - 15 December 2010– Handover to BKCASE core team

• GRCSE team could rest a bit

– BKCASE core team revised to prepare the v0.25 release version

• Change of order of chapters• Shift of some material from a chapter to an

appendix (assessment discussion)• General tidying up

– When I saw it I was pleased with the changes

GRCSE BKCASE IV ToC

• Introduction• Guidance for Construction & Maintenance• Expected Objectives• Expected Outcomes at Graduation• Expected Background at Entry• Curriculum Architecture• Core Body of Knowledge (CorBOK)• Assessment• Anticipated GRCSE Evolution

GRCSE BKCASE IV ToC

• Appendix A: Summary of Graduate Systems-Engineering-Centric Systems Engineering Programs in 2010

• Appendix B: Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Outcomes

• Appendix C: GRCSE Outcomes to CorBOK Mapping

• Appendix D: Assessment and Achievement of Learning Outcomes

• Appendix E. Discussion of Program Emphases

GRCSE v0.25 ToC

• Introduction• Context & Guidance Construction & Maintenance• Expected Student Background at Entry• Expected Objectives• Expected Outcomes When a Student Graduates• Curriculum Architecture• Core Body of Knowledge (CorBoK)• Assessment• Anticipated GRCSE Evolution

GRCSE v0.25 ToC

• App A: Summary of Graduate Systems-Engineering-Centric Systems Engineering Programs in 2010

• App B: Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Outcomes

• App C: GRCSE Outcomes to CorBoK Mapping• App D: Assessment and Achievement of

Learning Outcomes• App E: Competency-Based Curriculum

Development Approach• App F: Discussion of Program Emphasis

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Introduction– Definition and description of SE– Challenges of SE– Need for GRCSE

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Context and principles for guidance and construction of GRCSE– This section describes the academic context

of programs and constraints on them• High level overview as basis for guiding

principles

– List of 20 guiding principles• Essentially saying we were trying to produce

something that is generalisable to any institution anywhere, and can accommodate the local constraints

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Expected student background at entry– Education programs accept students who

satisfy entry criteria– And transform them to achieve outcomes

(and later objectives)• Logically fits at beginning

– Refer to survey entry requirement findings• Identifies the range of things which are typical –

not limited to what one institution has stated

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Expected student background at entry– GRCSE entry

• Suitable u/g degree – engineering, science, maths, computing

• 2 years relevant experience• Effective communication in the language of

instruction

– Levels of attainment of particular knowledge are suggested

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Expected objectives– Description of intended objectives

• Refers to early career achievement/progress of graduates

• Links to ABET expectation that a program explicitly identify objectives

• Some examples are provided, but not stated as necessarily appropriate for all

• Generic set provided to indicate our general views

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Expected objectives– This and the background section provide

book ends for a program

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Expected outcomes– Outcomes refer to the achievement of graduates as

at graduation• Bloom level attainment for all topics in the Core Foundation• Bloom level attainment in one extension focus area• Bloom synthesis level in one topic area in Core• Demonstrate ability to perform SE activities in one domain• Apply SE methods to one specialty• Comprehend SE challenges in multidiscipline teams• Be effective member multidiscipline teams• Be able to evaluate solution strategies• Able to reconcile conflicting requirements• Able to learn new methods etc• Understand relationship of SE to other fields• Demonstrate enough mastery of SwE for development of new systems• Demonstrate knowledge of professional ethics

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Curriculum architecture

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Core body of knowledge (CorBOK)– Proposed form of the table

SEBoK Chapter

SwEBoK ChapterTopic Core Foundation

Core Extension: System Design and Development (SDD)

Core Extension: Technical Management (TM)

This is used for cross-references to SEBoK

Name of topicBloom level to be attained

Bloom level to be attained in SDD focus area

Bloom level to be attained in the TM focus area

GRCSE v0.25 content

• CorBOK

SEBoK Chapter

Topic Core SDD TM

2.4 Systems Thinking X X X

3.2 Fundamentals of Systems Engineering X

6.2 Fundamentals of Enterprise SE X

7.2 Fundamentals of Enabling SE in the Organization X

8.1 Systems Engineering Management Fundamentals X X

9.3 Stakeholders Requirements and Mission Analysis X X

9.4 System Requirements X X

9.5 Architectural Design X X

9.6 System Analysis X X

10.3 System Implementation X X

10.4 System Integration X X

10.5 System Verification X X

10.6 System Validation X X

11.3 System Deployment X X X

11.4 Operation of the System X X X

11.5 System Maintenance X X X

11.6 Logistics X X X

12.3 Service Life Extension X

12.4 Capability Updates, Upgrades, and Modernization X X X

12.5 System Disposal and Retirement X X X

13.3 Acquisition Process X

13.4 Supplier Processes X

14.3 Integration of Specialty Engineering X

14.4 Affordability/Design to Cost X X X

14.5 Human System Integration X

14.6 Safety X X X

14.7 Security X X X

14.11 Reliability and Maintainability X X

14.12 Manufacturing and Production X X

14.13 Quality X X X

14.14 Logistics/Supportability X X X

14.15 Occupational Health/ Work Environment X X X

14.16 Disposal X

14.17 Resilience X

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Assessment– Discussions of:

• Outcomes assessment• Objectives assessment• Program update action based on

assessment – programs should be updated based on findings made through assessment

GRCSE v0.25 content

• Anticipated GRCSE evolution– This chapter provides a brief statement

of current intentions related to INCOSE + IEEE long term support

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App A – Summary of graduate programs (survey)– Description of who was invited to

respond– Description of the survey instrument– Summary of findings – care to ensure

anonymity and judgement free presentation

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App B – Bloom’s taxonomy of educational outcomes– Outline of Bloom’s taxonomy

• Cognitive domain• Affective domain

– Includes examples to assist making explicit plans

– Includes a level of attainment code to link to CorBOK

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App C – GRCSE outcomes mapping to CorBOK– Not populated at present

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App D – Assessment and achievement of learning outcomes – Extended discussion of the nature and

function of assessment

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App E – Competency-based curriculum development approach– Discussion of concept of competency-

based curriculum design– This material was originally in

Curriculum Architecture chapter but was judged to be ‘not core material’ for GRCSE – shifted to appendix

GRCSE v0.25 content

• App F: Discussion of program emphasis– This section discusses three views of SE

• Product or system design view of SE• Enterprise view of SE• Customer service view of SE

– This material was originally in Curriculum Architecture chapter but was judged to be ‘not core material’ for GRCSE – shifted to appendix

GRCSE Near-term Action

• Review comments due 7 March– Reasonable to not try to author or

amend sections before review comments are available for response


• Review comments due 7 March– After 7 March and before BKCASE VI

• Core team and TF organisation of comments similar to arrangement for SEBOK

• Division related to current chapters and appendices of GRCSE – to assign to author groups

• Develop plan for responding to the comments


• Anticipated outcomes of review process– Probable surprise/resistance to including

objectives– Questions around architecture

• Is it right?• Is it communicated effectively?

– CorBOK• What should be included?• What level of attainment should be required?


• Anticipated outcomes of review process– Assessment

• Should assessment be included?

– Bloom’s taxonomy• Should Affective Domain be included?

– Issues arising from the balance of ‘education’ and ‘training’

• To what extent is education program ‘training’ – ready to go on specific techniques at graduation?

GRCSE and Wiki

• Should GRCSE be distributed as document only or wiki?– GRCSE is planned as a focused whole

• Not a ‘dip in’ type reference

– GRCSE is designed to provide a whole guide to curriculum development

– Wiki form may fragment GRCSE resulting in loss of clarity re the vision of the whole

Documents

GRCSE History