Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study

Niels Doorn; Tanja E. J. Vos; Beatriz Marín; Harrie Passier; Lex Bijlsma; Silvio Cacace

doi:10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161

Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study

Niels Doorn, Tanja E. J. Vos, Beatriz Marín, Harrie Passier, Lex Bijlsma, Silvio Cacace

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Article in proceeding › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Testing is the most used process to assure software systems quality. With increasing complexity of software, testing is getting more important. Testing is an intellectual activity that needs to allocate multiple cognitive resources in students, making it a challenging topic to teach in computer science programs. We advocate that testing is both model-based and exploratory, meaning that we can only make useful test models for test case design once we have made enough sense about the testing problem. The latter can only be achieved through exploring, i.e. questioning, studying, observing and inferring. In this paper, we present an initial diagnostic study to understand the sensemaking used by students while creating test models. We found indications of four different approaches used by students when modelling test cases. A plan for further research is presented on how to improve teaching by taking into account the student's sensemaking approaches.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings
Subtitle of host publication	2021 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion (QRS-C 2021)
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	1069-1078
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	978-1-6654-7836-6
ISBN (Print)	978-1-6654-7837-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161
Publication status	Published - Apr 2021
Event	21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion - Hainan, China Duration: 6 Dec 2021 → 10 Dec 2021 Conference number: 21 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/9741747/proceeding

Conference

Conference	21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion
Abbreviated title	QRS-C 2021
Country/Territory	China
City	Hainan
Period	6/12/21 → 10/12/21
Internet address	https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/9741747/proceeding

Keywords

Education
Sensemaking
Software Testing

Access to Document

10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161

Cite this

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title = "Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study",

abstract = "Testing is the most used process to assure software systems quality. With increasing complexity of software, testing is getting more important. Testing is an intellectual activity that needs to allocate multiple cognitive resources in students, making it a challenging topic to teach in computer science programs. We advocate that testing is both model-based and exploratory, meaning that we can only make useful test models for test case design once we have made enough sense about the testing problem. The latter can only be achieved through exploring, i.e. questioning, studying, observing and inferring. In this paper, we present an initial diagnostic study to understand the sensemaking used by students while creating test models. We found indications of four different approaches used by students when modelling test cases. A plan for further research is presented on how to improve teaching by taking into account the student's sensemaking approaches.",

keywords = "Education, Sensemaking, Software Testing",

author = "Niels Doorn and Vos, {Tanja E. J.} and Beatriz Mar{\'i}n and Harrie Passier and Lex Bijlsma and Silvio Cacace",

note = "DBLP's bibliographic metadata records provided through http://dblp.org/search/publ/api are distributed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Although the bibliographic metadata records are provided consistent with CC0 1.0 Dedication, the content described by the metadata records is not. Content may be subject to copyright, rights of privacy, rights of publicity and other restrictions.; 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion, QRS-C 2021 ; Conference date: 06-12-2021 Through 10-12-2021",

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month = apr,

doi = "10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-6654-7837-3",

pages = "1069--1078",

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Doorn, N , Vos, TEJ, Marín, B, Passier, H , Bijlsma, L & Cacace, S 2021, Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study. in Proceedings: 2021 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion (QRS-C 2021). IEEE, pp. 1069-1078, 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion, Hainan, China, 6/12/21. https://doi.org/10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161

Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study. / Doorn, Niels ; Vos, Tanja E. J.; Marín, Beatriz et al.
Proceedings: 2021 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion (QRS-C 2021). IEEE, 2021. p. 1069-1078.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Article in proceeding › Academic › peer-review

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T1 - Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design

T2 - 21st International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security Companion

AU - Doorn, Niels

AU - Vos, Tanja E. J.

AU - Marín, Beatriz

AU - Passier, Harrie

AU - Bijlsma, Lex

AU - Cacace, Silvio

N1 - Conference code: 21

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - Testing is the most used process to assure software systems quality. With increasing complexity of software, testing is getting more important. Testing is an intellectual activity that needs to allocate multiple cognitive resources in students, making it a challenging topic to teach in computer science programs. We advocate that testing is both model-based and exploratory, meaning that we can only make useful test models for test case design once we have made enough sense about the testing problem. The latter can only be achieved through exploring, i.e. questioning, studying, observing and inferring. In this paper, we present an initial diagnostic study to understand the sensemaking used by students while creating test models. We found indications of four different approaches used by students when modelling test cases. A plan for further research is presented on how to improve teaching by taking into account the student's sensemaking approaches.

AB - Testing is the most used process to assure software systems quality. With increasing complexity of software, testing is getting more important. Testing is an intellectual activity that needs to allocate multiple cognitive resources in students, making it a challenging topic to teach in computer science programs. We advocate that testing is both model-based and exploratory, meaning that we can only make useful test models for test case design once we have made enough sense about the testing problem. The latter can only be achieved through exploring, i.e. questioning, studying, observing and inferring. In this paper, we present an initial diagnostic study to understand the sensemaking used by students while creating test models. We found indications of four different approaches used by students when modelling test cases. A plan for further research is presented on how to improve teaching by taking into account the student's sensemaking approaches.

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KW - Sensemaking

KW - Software Testing

U2 - 10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161

DO - 10.1109/QRS-C55045.2021.00161

M3 - Conference Article in proceeding

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SP - 1069

EP - 1078

BT - Proceedings

PB - IEEE

Y2 - 6 December 2021 through 10 December 2021

ER -

Exploring students' sensemaking of test case design: An initial study

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Keywords

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