Increased practical orientation in a Software Engineering course

Software Engineering is viewed as an engineering discipline concerned with bridging the gap between appropriate science knowledge and software applications. Curricula for traditional engineering disciplines include a substantial amount of practical and project work. We report experiences with increasing the laboratory and project component for Software Engineering Education at the Queensland University of Technology. Particular emphasis is given to the project-based Software Engineering subject. In the teaching of this subject some research findings on lasting knowledge for Software Engineering were applied. The increased practical orientation is seen as a success, but several important lessons about „how not to do it“ had to be learned.