How to Teach Software Engineering for Societal and Social Impact

In this panel, the presenters will discuss their collective experience of teaching software engineering courses and/or running software engineering projects that help students learn about and experience the impact of computing on society and the social good. While the benefits of practical experience in software engineering are generally indisputable, the logistics and management of such projects are often discouraging for faculty, leading many to exclude live clients from software engineering courses. The presenters will demystify and discuss the realities of running client-oriented classes and projects in the contexts of our institutions, which vary greatly in size and student demographics and represent both public and private colleges. In particular, we will discuss various approaches used to identify, design, create, and evaluate software engineering projects for societal and social impact. Project duration ranges from one semester to two or more, and participation in team projects is modeled as pre-professional training, complete with software tools, interpersonal dynamics, and evaluation methods.