research-article

Integrating Testing into Software Engineering Courses Supported by a Collaborative Learning Environment

Authors:

Peter J. Clarke,

Edward L. JonesAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), Volume 14, Issue 3

Article No.: 18, Pages 1 - 33

https://doi.org/10.1145/2648787

Published: 27 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

As software becomes more ubiquitous and complex, the cost of software bugs continues to grow at a staggering rate. To remedy this situation, there needs to be major improvement in the knowledge and application of software validation techniques. Although there are several software validation techniques, software testing continues to be one of the most widely used in industry. The high demand for software engineers in the next decade has resulted in more software engineering (SE) courses being offered in academic institutions. However, due to the number of topics to be covered in SE courses, little or no attention is given to software testing, resulting in students entering industry with little or no testing experience.

We propose a minimally disruptive approach of integrating software testing into SE courses by providing students access to a collaborative learning environment containing learning materials on testing techniques and testing tools. In this article, we describe the learning environment and the studies conducted to measure the benefits accrued by students using the learning environment in the SE courses.

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Index Terms

Integrating Testing into Software Engineering Courses Supported by a Collaborative Learning Environment
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
    1. Collaborative learning

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education

ACM Transactions on Computing Education Volume 14, Issue 3

November 2014

129 pages

EISSN:1946-6226

DOI:10.1145/2668970

Editors:
Robert McCartney
University of Connecticut, USA
,
Josh Tenenberg
University of Washington-Tacoma, USA

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Copyright © 2014 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 27 October 2014

Accepted: 01 April 2014

Revised: 01 April 2014

Received: 01 December 2012

Published in TOCE Volume 14, Issue 3

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3661167.3661276
Garcia RTreude CValentine AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)Application of Collaborative Learning Paradigms within Software Engineering Education: A Systematic Mapping StudyProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630780(366-372)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630780
Shin AKazerouni A(2023)A Model of How Students Engineer Test Cases With FeedbackACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/362860424:1(1-31)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628604
Fulcini TCoppola RArdito LTorchiano M(2023)A Review on Tools, Mechanics, Benefits, and Challenges of Gamified Software TestingACM Computing Surveys10.1145/358227355:14s(1-37)Online publication date: 10-Feb-2023
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