My teaching approach is experiential-based and in close connection with the software practice. My Research informs and is blended into my teaching practices. My goal is to create a learning environment that prepares students for future real-world software engineering that takes place in collaborative, international, and multicultural teams. To this end, I teach in context: I create authentic, experiential learning situations that align with the needs and expectations of the software practice; I work with and expect students to develop skills of independent, critical thinking, effective collaboration, accountability, and ongoing reflection on the application of the practices they apply in their course projects. This is a harder road to take when teaching SE, but I am always empowered when I hear from students and their impact after they enter the workforce. 

ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award, 2026 

REACH Award for Teaching Excellence in Experiential Learning, University of Victoria, 2020

Co-Chair, Program Committee for the Software Engineering Education and Training (SEET), 2019

Keynote Speaker at the International Workshop on Teaching Global Software Engineering(GSD), “Why easier is not always better”, at the IEEE Int’l Conference on Global Software Engineering, 2016

Faculty of Engineering Teaching Award, University of Victoria, 2019

Panelist, “What is the role of universities in the age of online education and digitalization?, Software Engineering Education and Training (SEET) at IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2018

How best to teach global software engineering? Sarah Beecham, Tony Clear, Daniela Damian, John Barr, Walter Scacchi, John Noll, IEEE Software, 2017

Towards a Live Anonymous Question Queue to Address Student Apprehension, Lloyd Montgomery, Guy Evans, Francis Harrison, and Daniela Damian, Proc. of Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education, 2015

Learning Global Agile Software Engineering Using Same-Site and Cross-Site Teams, Maria Paasivaara, Kelly Blincoe, Casper Lassenius, Daniela Damian, Jyoti Sheoran, Francis Harrison, Prashant Chhabra, Proc. of International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2015

Methodology and culture: drivers of mediocrity in software engineering? Marian Petre, and Daniela Damian, Proc. of ACM SIGSOFT International Conference on Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE), Awarded SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, 2014

Teaching students global software development using distributed Scrum, Maria Paasivaara, Casper. Lassenius, Daniela Damian, Petery Raty and Adrian Schroeter, Proc. of International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2013

Instructional design and assessment strategies for teaching global software development: a framework, Daniela Damian, Alison Hadwin and Ban Al-Ani, Proc. of International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2006