Software Communication Chautauqua participants at Miami University

The Software Communication Chautauqua brought together a community of interested educators and industry representatives to discuss how communication could and should be integrated into the software engineering curriculum.  The international workshop was hosted by Miami University. The organizers were Janet Burge (computer science and software engineering) and Paul Anderson (Howe Center for Writing Excellence) from Miami; and Charles Wallace (computer science) and Marika Siegel (humanities) from Michigan Technological University. The event was funded as a “Community Building” grant under the National Science Foundation CPATH program.

Thirty-five people participated at the Chautauqua including educators in computer science and technical communication as well as practicing software engineers and engineering managers. In keeping with the Chautauqua tradition, the workshop contained a variety of “entertainments” (activities) including panel discussions, brainstorming sessions, tutorials, and education research talks. The discussion has continued through participation in the Software Communication Chautauqua Wiki where they are currently forming working groups on the communication topics determined to be the highest priority at the workshop.