Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000
Reply-To: Vicki Almstrum <almstrum@cs.utexas.edu>
Sender: SIGCSE Member Forum <SIGCSE.MEMBERS@ACM.ORG>
From: Vicki Almstrum <almstrum@cs.utexas.edu>
Organization: University of Texas at Austin
Subject: Survey: needs for teaching formal methods
To: SIGCSE.MEMBERS@ACM.ORG

Dear colleagues,

This survey is related to the one that Tom Hilburn sent to this list earlier today. Tom's survey was for folks currently using formal methods in software engineering courses. My survey is somewhat more general.

At ITiCSE2000, our working group will focus on the issue of Support for the Teaching and Learning of Formal Methods. The report we author should appear in a future issue of SIGCSE Bulletin inroads and we also plan to contribute a new section to the FM Ed site at http://www.cs.indiana.edu/formal-methods-education/. (This site grew out of the 21st Engineering Consortium Workshop in March 1998 and is maintained by Kathi Fisler.) We are calling the new section "Getting Started" and visualize that it will provide support, encouragement, and concrete suggestions for folks who are not yet using formal methods in their teaching.

Your answers to this survey will help the WG as we design our task. Please send your responses to me directly at almstrum@cs.utexas.edu. I hope to receive most responses by July 9. Thank you for your assistance!!

THE SURVEY:

1. How are formal methods incorporated in your institution's CS curriculum (particularly at the undergraduate level)?
     
2. What experiences have you or your colleagues had with teaching formal methods? What kinds of support could improve these experiences?
     
3. The working group is considering creating a FAQ about getting started with teaching formal methods, for example:
   • What do we mean by FM?
   • What is the overhead of introducing formal methods?
   • How can FM components be incorporated into courses?
   • When we teach other topics, how do we incorporate FMs? (which books, which tools, which topics, how much time ...) )

   
   Do you have suggestions or wishes for the content of such a FAQ?
     

4. The working group would like to start a collection of benchmarks, examples, and case studies that can be used in class. We have noted in our discussions that toy examples are OK for a class such as discrete math. However, for a course such as SW Engineering, big "real" examples would be valuable.
   
   What suggestions or wishes do you have for the proposed collection of benchmarks, examples, and case studies?
     
5. One idea is to starting a library of formal methods teaching modules (1 to 3 weeks in length) that could easily be adapted for different settings. What suggestions or advice do you have for useful topics or formats?
     
6. Currently, tools to support formal methods tend to be oriented toward practitioners, not toward people learning the tools or the methods for the first time. The working group would hopes to create a wish-list that describes what tools for teaching FM should provide. Do you have any suggestions of features or issues that should be part of such a wish list?
     
7. Please let us know about related projects or resources that you believe would be useful in the context of our goals.

Thank you so much for your assistance!

For more details on the working group see http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/csed/formal_methods/CFP.html