Rate My Professor David Cooper

Dr. David Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Curtin University. He earned his PhD from Curtin University's School of Computing and has built a career as a teaching-focused academic specializing in software engineering education. Cooper teaches and coordinates core units such as Object Oriented Software Engineering (COMP2003) and Software Engineering Concepts (COMP3003), where he imparts practical knowledge in software design, development methodologies, and quality assurance to prepare students for professional computing roles. His instructional approach emphasizes hands-on application of object-oriented principles and engineering concepts essential for modern software projects.

Cooper's research centers on software engineering inspections and the cognitive processes involved in code review and quality assurance. Working with collaborators including David A. McMeekin, Brian R. von Konsky, and Elizabeth Chang, he has produced key publications such as 'Evaluating Software Inspection Cognition Levels Using Bloom's Taxonomy' (2009 IEEE), which assesses alignment of inspection methods with cognitive frameworks; 'Checklist Based Reading's Influence on a Developer's Cognitive Levels During Software Inspections'; 'Using Dependence Graphs to Assist Manual and Automated Object Oriented Software Inspections' (2006); 'Measuring Cognition Levels in Collaborative Processes for Software Engineering Code Inspections'; and 'The Benefit of Information Technology in Managing Intellectual Property for Software Development' (2006). These works, hosted in Curtin University's eSpace repository, advance methodologies for improving software defect detection and developer cognition. Cooper received an Honourable Mention in the Faculty of Science and Engineering Excellence in Teaching Awards and co-led the 2020 ALTA Special Series Grant project 'UPASS: An Automated Academic Integrity Detective Uncovering ICT Plagiarism' with Dr. Chris McDonald. His contributions shape software engineering pedagogy and practice at Curtin University.