14 Jan 2023
ICS 314, Introduction to Software Engineering, is part of the core curriculum and is a prerequisite to almost all upper division ICS courses. However, the concepts and technologies taught in ICS 314 can easily decay or be lost altogether if...
Software Engineering
16 Oct 2020
Thoughts from over 60 ICS students on how to reduce cheating in computer science classes.
ICS
14 Oct 2020
ICS alumni and local high tech community members discuss the question: Five years from now, in 2025, what is one change we should make to improve the impact of computer science at UHM?
ICS
24 Jul 2020
The community of practice for computer science that I envision will attract students prior to entering the University of Hawaii, nurture and support them while they are working on their degree, and, most importantly, continue to seamlessly support their education...
ICS
18 Feb 2020
I recently came across a comment online from a developer questioning the value of creating a professional portfolio because “recruiters don’t look at them”. I want to offer a different perspective in case you’ve come across that opinion. While not...
Professional Development
09 Feb 2020
If you are a student looking for a job or applying to graduate school, you will find that you need to ask one or more professors for letters of recommendation, or at least for the right to list one of...
Education
05 Jan 2020
Thoughts on how to maintain and improve outcomes from the ICS software engineering curriculum.
ICS
25 Nov 2019
One of the requirements of the Ph.D. program in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii is to create an online portfolio site which establishes “research readiness and professional capacity”. The portfolio site should include,...
04 Apr 2018
A summary of my experiences teaching Meteor as part of an introductory software engineering class.
Meteor
01 Aug 2017
In Spring of 2017, I was one of a seven person executive committee that led the organization of the March for Science–Hawaii. Without any prior experience and over the course of ten weeks, we developed an organizing committee of over...
March for Science
17 Jun 2017
For the past four years, I have been developing a pedagogy called “Athletic Software Engineering” (ASE) which I use in ICS 314: Introduction to Software Engineering. This pedagogy involves a high intensity, time-constrained, and often stress-inducing approach to acquiring competency...
Athletic Software Engineering
25 Nov 2016
I had the great pleasure of participating in the first Hawaii Annual Code Challenge, held from August 27-September 24, 2016. The goal of HACC is to “engage the local tech community in the modernization of Hawaii State Government” through a...
Hackathon Portfolio
29 Sep 2014
A junior faculty member emailed me recently with the following question: Do you have any advice on best practices for training students who are new to programming, and at the same time building a usable product? I do a lot...
Research process
23 May 2014
Last summer, I had the idea of teaching in an athletic style, and last fall, I tried it out in my software engineering course. My experience teaching this way led to a new idea: using GitHub, Jekyll, and Twitter Bootstrap...
Morea Framework Athletic Software Engineering
04 Feb 2014
Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the Energy Excelerator‘s 2014 Seed Week program. Representatives from nine energy-related startups attended an 8 day immersive experience at the Energy Excelerator offices in downtown Honolulu. This week kicked off a...
Startups Education Energy
16 Dec 2013
Last summer, I speculated about an “athletic” approach to teaching software engineering, including: A flipped classroom: lectures are online, freeing up class time for other activities. A primary focus on skill acquisition, and a secondary focus on concept acquisition. For...
Athletic Software Engineering
12 Jul 2013
How startup weekend, outrigger canoe racing, and Crossfit inspires a new approach to software engineering education I have a confession to make. For over 20 years, I’ve been teaching “cubicle” software engineering. This does not mean that I teach students...
Athletic Software Engineering
08 Jul 2013
Users of Git, particularly with cloud-based services such as GitHub, CloudBees, and Heroku, must have a very basic understanding of public key authentication and encryption. This article provides a minimal introduction along with a few use cases. Private keys To...
PKA Git
09 Oct 2012
The University of Hawaii Information and Technology Services (ITS) department provides hosting services to faculty and staff. This has many advantages, including: No cost to you for hardware. No cost to you for backups, network, UPS, and OS administration. Energy...
UH ITS WordPress
24 Aug 2011
For the past 20 years, the State of Hawaii has pursued the development of a high tech industry to counterbalance our economic dependence on tourism, with mixed results. Proponents of software-based companies note that these products are environmentally friendly, can...
Renewable energy
24 Oct 2010
A couple of weeks ago, fresh on the heels of the Molokai crossing, I thought it might be fun to sign up for the Kahala Challenge, which is a sprint triathlon that substitutes paddling for bicycling (thus, an 800 meter...
Paddling
09 Feb 2010
Several times per semester, local companies contact me to ask if I know of any “good” students who might be interested in working with them on a project. I am always delighted to receive these emails and want to facilitate...
Education
11 Oct 2008
Since I founded the Collaborative Software Development Laboratory in 1991, I have provided research positions and internships to students from across the world, including Germany, Italy, India, China, Japan, Australia, Iceland, and Indonesia. Providing these opportunities to students, and learning...
Education