Experience in teaching a software reengineering course

Software engineering curricula emphasize developing new software systems. Little attention is given to how to change and modernize existing systems, i.e., the theory and practice of software maintenance and reengineering. This paper presents the author’s experience in teaching software reengineering in a masters-level course at University of Leicester, UK. It presents the course objectives, outline and the lessons learned. The main lessons are: first, there is a big shortage of educational materials for teaching software reengineering. Second, selecting the suitable materials (that balance theory and practice) and the right tool(s) for the level of students and depth of coverage required is a difficult task. Third, teaching reengineering using toy exercises and assignments does not convey the practical aspects of the subject. While, teaching with real, even small size, exercises and assignments, is almost infeasible. Getting the balance right requires careful consideration and experimentation. Finally, students understand and appreciate this topic much more if they have previous industrial experience and when they are presented with real industrial case studies