My teaching approach is experiential-based and in close connection with the software practice. My SE research informs and is blended into my teaching practices. My goal is to create a learning environmnet that prepares students for future real-world software engineering that takes place in collaborative international and multi-cultural 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.
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
Global Software Engineering (2005-present)
The course provides hands-on experience for UVic students to engage in developing software in an international collaboration with students from another institution and where I coordinate with an instructor (among my research collaborators) teaching an equivalent course in their institution. The course is project-driven where students work on a real software problem to develop software for a client. State-of-the-art advanced collaboration technology in my research lab (SEGAL, thesegalgroup.org) and in the remote locations is used to facilitate ongoing group project communication, as well as weekly class discussions reflecting on the students’ experience, particularly, their challenges.
Requirements Engineering (2003-present)
The course takes the students on the journey of requirements discovery and negotiation in real-world software projects, most often in collaboration with local software industry in Victoria. Teamwork, professionalism, requirements advocacy are some of the challenging new terms explored and exercised in the team-based projects. Students design, prototype and test functionality for a client, and reflect on their experience in heir journeys.
Research Skills (2011-present)
The course introduces the students to best practices in writing literature reviews, formulating research questions, research methodologies, paper review, networking and presentations.
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
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
International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2015
Methodology and culture: drivers of mediocrity in software engineering?
Marian Petre, and Daniela Damian
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
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
International Conference on Software. Engineering (ICSE), 2006