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Current affairs

This is an experiment, new in this year's course. (If it's a total disaster we'll drop it part way through, but I think it may be useful and interesting!)

As you realise, the aim of this course is to be relevant to software engineering in the Real World (tm): to help you to make a smooth transition into being a professional software engineer, for example, if that's what you choose to do. Since software engineering is changing rapidly, a professional software engineer has to keep up to date with new developments, and this is why, for example, I ask you to research your essays yourselves rather than just using course material. Similarly, this slot is intended to give us an opportunity to discuss current affairs in software engineering. I hope it will also support the essay, e.g. by giving you some ideas for topics.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to take away a recent copy of Computer Weekly (a widely read paper which I get sent each week), and then talk for 5-10 minutes about something or some things that you find in it, which have some relevance to the course. The task is very flexible:

• "some relevance to the course" can be interpreted as broadly as you like provided you can explain what relevance you had in mind. For example, you could use items about software engineering projects (going right or wrong), about design, about the profession of software engineering, about software engineering tools or techniques...
• you can do it singly or in groups
• you can prepare slides and/or handouts or not, as you like
• you can talk in some depth about a single topic, or you can touch on several
• you can come and talk to me about your ideas beforehand, or not, as you like.
• you can involve audience participation or not.

The aim is to be interesting and informative. The presentation is not assessed, and there is no (compulsory) written work. You can give a carefully prepared presentation, or something more impromptu, provided you're confident you can be interesting and informative with less preparation. (If you're reasonably confident about prepared presentations it's actually quite a good idea to practice giving more hastily prepared ones: it's often required, and employers frequently ask for short presentations prepared on the spot in job selection events.) I'll be happy to provide feedback on the presentation if you want it.