Sample syllabus - students receive the detailed syllabus at the beginning of the semester
enrolled in the course.
CS 427 Software Engineering
Course Description
This course introduces students to the discipline of software engineering, with focus on principles,
processes, and techniques of conducting software engineering tasks related to constructing,
maintaining, and testing software. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain what
processes or techniques are available for conducting a software engineering task, and choose
appropriate processes or techniques for such task in the given application context. Students will be
able to apply a technique for a software engineering task in the given application context.
Course Goals and Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Explain what processes or techniques are available for conducting a software engineering task.
• Choose appropriate processes or techniques for such task in the given application context.
• Apply a technique for a software engineering task in the given application context.
Course Outline
This 4-credit hour course is 16 weeks long. You should invest 4-8hours every week in this course.
Week Topics
1 Orientation
History of Software Engineering, Subareas of
2
Software Engineering
Plan-driven methodologies, agile methodologies,
3
process choosing, configuration management
Requirement solicitation, Requirement
4 specification, Use-case requirements, User-story
requirements
5 Class diagrams, Sequence diagrams, Modularity
6 Software architecture, Design patterns
7 Software architecture, Design patterns
Black-box testing, white- box testing, unit testing,
8
code review
Black-box testing, white- box testing, unit testing,
9
code review
10 Work on Term Project
Software metrics, code smells, refactoring,
11
regression testing
12 Bug reporting, logging, delta debugging
13 Thanksgiving Break
14 Work on Term Project
15 Work on Term Project
16 Final Exam
Assignment Deadlines
For all assignment deadlines, please refer to the Course Assignment Deadlines, Late Policy, and
Academic Calendar page.
Elements of This Course
The course is comprised of the following elements:
• Lecture Videos. In each week, the concepts you need to know will be presented through a
collection of short video lectures. You may stream these videos for playback within the browser by
clicking on their titles or download the videos. You may also download the slides that go along with
the videos. The videos usually total 1 to 3 hours each week. You generally should spend at
least the same amount of time digesting content in the video. The actual amount of time needed to
digest the content will vary based on your background.
• Orientation Quiz. The purpose of the orientation quiz is to ensure that you have gone through the
orientation module and acquired the necessary information about the course before you start it.
The orientation quiz is a required activity, but it's not part of the course grading. You have unlimited
attempts on the orientation quiz. You need to answer all questions correctly in order to pass the
orientation quiz.
• Graded Quizzes. Each week conclude with a graded quizzes. You will be allowed 2 attempts for
each graded quiz with your highest attempt score used toward your final grade. There is no time
limit on how long you take to complete each attempt at the quiz. Graded quizzes will be used when
calculating your final score in the class.
• Programming Assignments. There are 4 total programming assignments in this course. You may
invest 3-6 hours on each of the programming assignments. For more information about the
programming assignments, please read the instructions on programming assignment in respective
weeks.
• Term Project: There will be 1 term project for this course. There will be 4 milestones to complete
the term project. More information about the term project will be released in Week 4.
• Final Exam: There will be 1 Final Exam in this course. The exam will be online, and proctored
through ProctorU. Please see the ProctorU page for more information.
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Grading Distribution and Scale
Grading Distribution
Percent of the Final
Assignment Occurrence
Grade
Quizzes Weeks 2-9, 11, 12 15%
Programming
Weeks 7, 9, 11, 12 25%
Assignments
Weeks 4, 6, 9, 11, 14,
Term Project 45%
15
Final Exam Week 16 15%
Your final grade will be calculated based on the activities listed in the table below. Your
official final course grade will be listed in Enterprise. The course grade you see
displayed in Coursera may not match your official final course grade.
Grading Scale
Letter Percent Letter Percent Letter Percent
Grade Needed Grade Needed Grade Needed
A+ 95% B+ 80% C 60%
A 90% B 75% D 55%
A- 85% B- 70% F Below 55%
Student Code and Policies
A student at the University of Illinois at the Urbana-Champaign campus is a member of a University
community of which all members have at least the rights and responsibilities common to all citizens,
free from institutional censorship; affiliation with the University as a student does not diminish the
rights or responsibilities held by a student or any other community member as a citizen of larger
communities of the state, the nation, and the world. See the University of Illinois Student Code for
more information.
Academic Integrity
All students are expected to abide by the campus regulations on academic integrity found in the
Student Code of Conduct. These standards will be enforced and infractions of these rules will not be
tolerated in this course. Sharing, copying, or providing any part of a homework solution or code is an
infraction of the University’s rules on academic integrity. We will be actively looking for violations of
this policy in homework and project submissions. Any violation will be punished as severely as
possible with sanctions and penalties typically ranging from a failing grade on this assignment up to
a failing grade in the course, including a letter of the offending infraction kept in the student's
permanent university record.
Again, a good rule of thumb: Keep every typed word and piece of code your own. If you think you
are operating in a gray area, you probably are. If you would like clarification on specifics, please
contact the course staff.
Disability Accommodations
Students with learning, physical, or other disabilities requiring assistance should contact the
instructor as soon as possible. If you’re unsure if this applies to you or think it may, please contact
the instructor and Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. You
can contact DRES at 1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, via phone at (217) 333-1970, or via email
at disability@illinois.edu.
