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Software testing education through a collaborative virtual approach

Abstract:

The use of collaborative virtual environments facilitates communication, coordination and cooperation within a group of people. In the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), collaborative virtual environments have been developed to support the learning of programming. With the aim of fostering software testing education by alternative means, we present findings from the use of a collaborative virtual environment used for software testing training. Particularly, we report an empirical study (controlled experiment) which assesses the effectiveness of detecting defects in instrumented programs with and without the support of an collaborative virtual environment (CVE). The CVE was used as part of a programming course at under-graduate level. The results suggest an equivalent effectiveness in defect detection for both types of participants, those who used the CVE and those who worked in a traditional manner. It was observed that with regard to effectiveness, for this type of task (the detection of defects), working virtually through a CVE versus working in a tradition manner (at the same time and in the same place) yields equivalent results. When collaborative work cannot be done in a traditional way, the use a CVE is an alternative approach equally effective for collaborating and learning on software testing.