B1874 - Project Management and Software Engineering for Cultural Heritage (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide basic knowledge about project management and software engineering applied to Digital Humanities (DH). Students will identify effective project management practices and their related processes. They will learn to apply the generally recognized practices to successfully manage DH projects. Through experimentation on real case studies, students will learn to design and manage a typical DH software process step by step. At the same time, the course introduces the concepts and methods required for the construction of systems applied to the Humanities. It aims to develop a basic understanding of the discipline of software engineering through the direct application of related design patterns and best practices adapted to the DH domain. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: identify the key processes and requirements of both disciplines; initiate a software project; plan for time and cost; plan for project risks, and change control.

Course contents

The course introduces basic theoretical and practical aspects of Project Management and Software Engineering for the Cultural Heritage domain. The course aims to provide DHDK students with an overview of the two disciplines to give them the indispensable tools to manage multidisciplinary DH projects. Theoretical and methodological approaches will be put into practice through case studies including those suggested by students.

The course is organised in two parts:

Part 1: Software Project Management will focus on:

• Project Management in software development;
• Resource management and planning;
• The software lifecycle: from requirements to delivery.

Part 2: Introduction to Software Engineering will introduce key concepts about:

• Software design basic theory and practices;
• Agile vs. structured software development processes;
• Software validation and verification.

Students with specific learning disorders (SLD) or temporary/permanent disabilities should contact the appropriate University office immediately and agree with the teacher the most effective strategies for attending the lectures and preparing for the final exam.

Readings/Bibliography

Slides, handouts and papers will be available for download from the course website on Virtuale.

The following suggested readings could be helpful to students as background material:

Hughes B. and Cotterell M., Software project management, 5th ed., 2009, MC Graw Hill

Sommerville Ian, Software Engineering, 10^th ed., 2017, Pearson

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons and practical sessions on case studies.

Students unable to attend the lessons are strongly invited to contact the teacher to get some explanations and avoid misunderstanding about the course contents and reading materials.

Assessment methods

The final exam will consist of a project work to be presented during the oral colloquium. Students are asked to realise a project on a topic of their choice through which they will demonstrate that they have acquired the expertise for successfully managing a software development project. The project will be based on guidelines that will be introduced during the course and will be available on Virtuale. The project’s topic should be selected and agreed upon with the teacher by the end of the course for attending students, or at least 15 days before the exam session. During the oral colloquium, both the project and the course contents will be assessed.

The assessment of the skills and methodological knowledge gained by the student will be done on the basis of the following parameters:

• Complexity of the topic for the project;
• Understanding of all the course topics;
• Use of a technical language related to the domain;
• Effective approach to project management and execution.

The final grade will depend on the evaluation:

• Excellent evaluation (final score greater than 26): reaching an in-depth understanding of all the course topics, proper terminology usage, and an effective approach to project management and execution;
• Sufficient evaluation (final score between 18 and 26): reaching a partial understanding of the course topics and basic skills in project management and execution;
• Insufficient evaluation (final score lesser than 18): not reaching a sufficient understanding of the course topics and poor project execution.

Students with specific learning disorders (SLD) or temporary/permanent disabilities should contact the appropriate University office in advance. The office will be responsible for proposing adaptations to interested students. Such adaptations must be submitted to the teacher for approval at least 15 days before the exam session. The teacher will also evaluate the adaptations regarding the training objectives of teaching.

Teaching tools

Teaching materials will be provided during the course and published on Virtuale.

Classes are held in a classroom equipped with personal computers connected to the Intranet and Internet.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Bonora