USC'sTwoSemesterSoftwareEngineeringGraduateProjectCourseA.WinsorBrownComputerScienceandUSCCenterforSystemsandSoftwareEngineering,UniversityofSouthernCaliforniaLosAngeles,CA90089-0781,USAandSupannika(Sue)KoolmanojwongComputerScience,UniversityofSouthernCaliforniaLosAngeles,CA90089-0781USAABSTRACTFor over 12 years, USC's Computer Science (CSCI)Department has been offering a two-semester softwareengineering course designed by Dr. Barry Boehm andrequired course for the CS department's Specialization inSoftware Engineering.  From the beginning, it has beendoing real projects for real clients.  The courses focus onactivities not normally covered by regular computerscience.Whilethefocusisonsoftwareengineeringoftheprojects, the project is done in the context of systemsengineering, employing the Incremental CommitmentModel(ICM).Projectteamsareself-organizingandselecttheprojectstheywishtoworkon.Overtheyears,variousonlinetoolshavebeendevelopedspecificallytosupportthecourses.Keywords:  Incremental Commitment Model (ICM),ElectronicProcessGuide(EPG),DistanceEducation,RealProjects For Real Clients, Systems Engineering, SoftwareEngineering.1.INTRODUCTIONSoftware engineering project courses provide a way forsoftware engineers in training to both learn about theirtradeandputitintopractice.Suchcourses,especiallywithlargeenrollments,uptoabout200studentsforCSCI577a,require special tools to support them in addition to theexpected software engineering tools for architecture anddesign, configuration management, and bug and issuetracking. PhDstudentshaveevolvedmany ofthecourse-specialized tools over the years as these tools have beenusedtogatherdatafortheirtheses.[1]2.COURSECONCEPTForthesecourses,“SoftwareEngineering”isdefinedasthedisciplines that distinguish the coding of a computerprogram from the development of a software product.These "real projects for real clients' courses" stress thetopicsthatarenotthefocusofclassiccomputerscienceasshowninFigure1.Figure1.CSTraditionalvs.SEfocusFrom the beginning, students are told that the intent is toprepare them for software leadership careers through the2040’s, including balancing agility with discipline andCOTS/OSS,model,andservice-basedandnetworkcentricsystems.AlltheseconsiderationsareintegratedviaValue-Based Software Engineering (VBSE), IncrementalCommitmentModels(ICMs)[2],andprojectexperience.RealclientsforrealprojectsIn the beginning, projects came from the USC Libraries,which often had niche systems they wanted but, withlimited funding, little support from the campus-wide ITdepartment.  Other departments, also wanting niche orspecialtysystemsheardabouttheprojectsandtheir"free"labor.  CSSE itself has occasionally been a client forspecialtyprojectsandtools,including thoseforthecourseitself. Forthelastseveralyears,however,the bulkoftheclients come from the USC University NeighborhoodOrganizations(UNO)andothernot-for-profitorganizationsthatarepartofanexpandingnetworkofcontactsthatUNOhasdevelopedovertheyears.Thecoursealsotakessomefor-profitsmallorganizationswhoproposeprojects.TeamsTeams are self-selecting and "bid" on projects using apreference ranking.  Projects are described with three orfour paragraphs of descriptions that do not explicitlyidentify the client contacts.  Some projects are initiallyscoped and identified as "one-semester projects," orprojects that can be completed in one semester, typicallyeitheraskingforevaluationsofCOTSpagealternativesorusingCOTS frameworks,althoughrecentlythecoursehasdoneseveralprojectsusingnetworkcentricservices.Sincethereareinvariablymoreprojects"proposed"thanteamsto serve them,the projects are assigned to teams on a "leastregrets"basis.The teams are expected to have six-or-seven on-campusstudents,supplementedbyone-or-twooff-campusstudentswho participate via USC's Distance Education Network(DEN).  DEN provides both live and delayed streamingvideo of the lectures.  Most of the DEN students areworkingprofessionalswhoarealloverthecountry.Afterteamsbasedonon-campusgroupingsareformed,theDENstudents get to state their preferences of the selectedprojects.DEN student rolesinthe first semesteraregiventothem.In addition to providing Independent IntegratedVerificationandValidationsthroughevaluationsofstudentdocumentationpackages,someareaskedtoplaytheroleofSystem/Project