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In this paper we present the innovative methods and experiences from several years of teaching practical software (SW) engineering at the Computer Science Departments of San Francisco State University (SFSU), USA in conjunction with the University of Applied Sciences, Fulda University, Germany. The key objectives and desired outcomes of our course were to train future SW developers, technical leads and managers in practical SW engineering practices, including global SW Engineering, where team members work in different locations. Our key approach was to combine and synchronize class teaching about SW engineering methods and processes with actual SW development work in a setting designed to simulate a small SW company. Students were divided in "local" groups of 4-6 members, each forming a small SW "company" in charge of developing a complete working WWW application as a final class project. Several groups of students at SFSU were "virtually" paired with groups of students at Fulda University, whom they never met face to face, to form "global" groups, thus simulating global SW engineering in a realistic setting. Students developed their final projects incorporating five well-defined milestones typical for SW development lifecycle. All student groups (including global ones) produced impressive final project applications and gave very positive feedback on this class.

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Changes and globalization of software (SW) development urgently require new ways of teaching and training students in practical and global SW engineering (SE). In this paper we present the innovative methods and experiences from several years of teaching practical and global SW engineering at the Computer Science Departments of San Francisco State University (SFSU), USA in conjunction with the University of Applied Sciences, Fulda University, Germany. We also provide analysis and evaluation of class effectiveness based on several assessment methods including extensive student questionnaires, with our recommendations for teaching such SE classes. Our approach was to combine and synchronize class teaching about SW engineering methods and processes with actual SW development work in a setting designed to simulate a small SW company. Students were divided in "local" groups of 4-6 members, each group forming small SW "companies" in charge of developing a complete working WWW application as a final class project. Several smaller groups of students at SFSU were paired with groups of students at Fulda University, whom they never met face to face, to form "global" groups, thus simulating global SW engineering in a realistic setting. Students developed their final project incorporating five well-defined milestones typical for full SW development lifecycle. Instructors spent considerable time supervising and interacting with student "companies" in the role of company customers, CTO and VPs of engineering, marketing and sales. All student groups (including global ones) were able to produce impressive final project applications and provided very positive feedback for this class.