An NDSU doctoral student’s research paper was selected as an “Exemplary” paper in “Best CS Educational Research Papers” at the 48th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education held March 8-11 in Seattle.
The paper’s lead author is Vaibhav Anu, a doctoral student in computer science. It is titled "Incorporating Human Error Education into Software Engineering Courses via Error-Based Inspections." The paper was co-written by Gursimran Walia, Anu’s faculty adviser and associate professor of computer science, and Gary Bradshaw, professor of psychology at Mississippi State University.
According to Walia the software engineering discipline and curriculum are devoid of educational content on human errors, while other human-centric disciplines such as aviation, medicine and process control have developed human error training and other interventions. “This paper illustrates the ability and value of applying human error research to a software engineering problem that resulted in the development of a theoretically sound taxonomy of the types of human errors that requirements engineers can commit,” Walia said. “The resulting error taxonomy was then used to deliver requirements validation knowledge (a key industry skill) to students by focusing the software review process on identification and removal of the faults caused by human errors.”
The study was supported by National Science Foundation Awards 1423279 and 1421006
The symposium is the largest computing education conference worldwide organized by ACM SIGCSE. It attracts around 1,300 researchers, educators, and others interested in improving computing education in K-12 and higher education.
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