Course overview
The course focuses on achieving best software quality by introducing hands-on a plan that consists of procedures, techniques, and tools such as Selenium, TestingWhiz, HPE Unified Functional Testing, and others that are typically employed for ensuring that a product or service aligns with system requirements, evaluating the quality of software functions, and validating quality attributes such as functionality, performance, adaptability, and more. The course enables students to develop plans for better software quality, to monitor the progress of applied methods, and to introduce improvements for future betterment.
Participants in piloting
The course addresses students of both semesters in the 4th year of undergraduate studies. Specifically, participants were 2nd semester students of 4th year in the BS in Computer Science, BS in Software Engineering, and BS in Information Technology programs. A total of 17 students were enrolled in the 2020 – 2021 academic year. The total number of students was 17, of which 1 student was enrolled in the BS in Information Technology program, 1 student in the BS in Computer Science program, and 15 students in the BS in Software Engineering program.
Use of ALIEN services and tools
Students were divided into groups. Each group consisted of 4 students; 1 group that consisted of 5. Groups were assigned puzzles to discuss, such as “a woman fired a shot at a man with her gun but the man did not die. List the possible reasons for the man not dying”. This exercise helped them to identify possible test scenarios or cases. Almost all performed well in this task and found a number of reasonable explanations. Subsequently students were asked to think of possible reasons for which software implementing a particular logic may not perform well. Likewise, students worked on other tasks that challenged them to think about testing strategies that can ensure the high quality of a Ball Point software tool. Another example of a task was to give instructions to an alien being that asks how to brush its teeth; students were asked to assume that the alien has teeth exactly like human teeth, is smart as a human, but needs clear step-by-step instructions, as for example hold the toothpaste with your left hand; turn the cap anti-clockwise; and more. After applying testing techniques to familiar activities, students were asked to apply the same techniques to solve software quality assurance problems. They performed well with a keen interest in finding more solutions for better software quality.
