In this paper, an algebra of timed processes with real-valued clocks is presented, which m a y s e r v e as a description language for networks of timed automata. We s h o w t h a t requirements such as a process will never reach an undesired state" can be veri ed by solving a simple class of constraints on the clock-variables. A symbolic on-they reachability algorithm for the language has been developed and implemented as a software tool based on constraint-solving techniques. To our knowledge, this is the rst on-they veri cation algorithm for timed automata. In fact, the tool is the very rst implementation of the Uppaal tool. As examples, we model and verify safety properties of a real-time mutual exclusion protocol and a railway crossing controller.

Context: Global Software Engineering (GSE) has become the predominant form of software development for global companies and has given rise to a demand for students trained in GSE. In response, universities are developing courses and curricula around GSE and researchers have begun to disseminate studies of these new approaches. Problem: GSE differs from most other computer science fields, however, in that practice is inseparable from theory. As a result, educators looking to create GSE courses face a daunting task: integrating global practice into the local classroom. Aim: This study aims to ameliorate the very difficult task of teaching GSE by delineating the challenges and providing some recommendations for overcoming them. Method:To meet our aims we pose two research questions ("When teaching GSE to students in Higher Education, what are the (a) challenges, and (b) recommendations for addressing them") and then conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) to determine the answers to these questions. Our SLR follows a carefully designed and validated protocol. Results: We found 82 papers that addressed our research questions. Our findings indicate that in addition to the challenges posed by GSE in general, particular problems arise in educational situations. The majority of these challenges fall into the "global distance" category, though teamwork challenges and people issues (such as trust) also commonly arise. Organizational differences between institutions, differing skill sets between students in different locations, and varying cultural work norms, for example, all operate within educational settings in quite different ways than in professional development teams. Integrating cultural training, conducting teamwork exercises to build trust, and instructor monitoring of team communication are all examples of techniques that have been used successfully by educators according to our review Conclusion: Despite the severity of the challenges in GSE education, many institutions have successfully developed courses and curricula targeting GSE. Indeed, for each of the challenges we have identified in the literature there are numerous recommendations for overcoming them. Instructors can use the recommendations given in this study as a starting point to running successful GSE courses.

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This paper brings together three different sets of experiences of using large scale open ended group projects as a means of enhancing the skills of undergraduate students and preparing them for a career in Software Engineering. The paper commences by examining the circumstances in which open ended group projects have proved to be successful, briefly indicating the criteria that have been used to measure that success. It then examines some of the choices that must be made in designing and managing such projects, drawing on the different experiences of the three authors. It is argued throughout that open ended group projects are an effective way of developing and enhancing skills and of reinforcing learning in most knowledge areas. It is furthersuggested that open ended group projects offer a way of preparing students for their subsequent careers which is valued by industry and commerce and which also motivates and enthuses students.

How might the content and outcomes of tertiary education programmes be described and analysed in order to understand how they are structured and function? To address this question we develop a framework for modelling graduate competencies linked to tertiary degree programmes in the computing disciplines. While the focus of our work is computing the framework is applicable to education more broadly. The work presented here draws upon the pioneering curricular document for information technology (IT2017), curricular competency frameworks, other related documents such as the software engineering competency model (SWECOM), the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), current research in competency models, and elicitation workshop results from recent computing conferences. The aim is to inform the ongoing Computing Curricula (CC2020) project, an endeavour supported by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society. We develop the Competency Learning Framework (CoLeaF), providing an internationally relevant tool for describing competencies. We argue that