Which version art thou? Configuration management in engineering education

Abstract

Configuration management is a set of principles and practices used in engineering to track the history of changes made to project artefacts and products. In this paper we outline our vision for incorporating the industry practices and principles of configuration management in the University engineering environment. We discuss how revision control software tools will mitigate the “sorry, that was the wrong version” issues in undergraduate courses, support the management and quality assurance of postgraduate and staff research projects, and foster collaboration in University projects at all levels. We also see the software tools being used to help students and staff to identify the relative effort of team members in undergraduate projects for assessment purposes. An implementation program is proposed, which consists of a series of projects, leading to the establishment of a University-wide capability and beginning with a test and evaluation exercise. Our pilot project will test the open-source tools and our integration strategies via a second-year cohort consisting of on-campus and distance education students. We discuss the importance of the pilot project, our strategies for examining the expected improvement in student experiences, and the project time-frames. The implementation program will ultimately provide students with industry-relevant knowledge and skills, and staff with effective capabilities to support research projects and project-based courses.