• The Software Engineering Practicum begins with a request by a hypothetical customer or a marketing organization (i.e. product management) for a preliminary proposal and plan to construct a system or a set of products according to a high level specification of the requirements.
• A small project team (or teams, depending on the number of students registering at one time) is established.
• The team is required to follow a common proposal preparation process and format to assist the members of the team in coordinating their efforts and streamlining their contributions.
• A joint report with individual parts is submitted in the form of a technical proposal at the end of the course. The team is required to hold internal reviews among the team members and make 3-4 presentations of their progress before submitting the final report. The submissions are graded for individual effort and quality, as well as for team-work.

This course is intended for students of this program who are seeking the final diploma in Software Engineering.

The student must have completed SE 8000 Software Engineering Best Practices, SE 8001Software Project Management and a majority of the other credits for the program.

• The aim of the project is to apply and integrate the concepts, processes, methods and tools introduced through the range of courses taken by the student as part of the program.
• As a by-product, students learn about the human and management issues experienced when working on technical problems in a team setting where there is a degree of accountability to other team members as well as to a responsible authority (in this case, the instructor).
• Although each student will work on different technical and management aspects of the project, by virtue of working together towards a common, integrated result, the students will also gain valuable experience in the other areas addressed by their teammates.
• An open and collaborative environment is encouraged throughout the course.

• Kal Toth is an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University in Portland Oregon.
• He is the Associate Director of the Oregon Master of Software Engineering (OMSE) program and is also teaching software engineering courses in this program.
• Kal is conducting research in the field of information security. He has over 25 years of industry experience with large, medium and small companies including Hughes Aircraft of Canada, CGI Group, Datalink Systems Corp, Intellitech Canada Ltd. and various
• Canadian federal government agencies (notably Defence, Transport, and Communications). Kal has a Ph.D. in Computer Systems Engineering from Carleton University (Ottawa) and is a P.Eng. (British Columbia) with a software engineering designation.