T5-COMP1-2 - Model for Teaching and Training Software Testing in an Agile Context
2. Research-to-Practice Full PaperSandro Ronaldo Bezerra Oliveira1
1 Federal University of Pará
Introduction
This Research to Practice Full Paperpresents a proposal for a model to improve the teaching process of software testing supported by elements of agile methods. It was developed to be used as a guide to support professors or specialists for decision making, selection of teaching materials according to the participants' cognitive learning for the execution of subjects or teaching units on topics related to software testing. In addition to suggesting several personalized activities, presenting an instance of application of a teaching syllabus that adheres to several reference syllabus, this model also seeks to be extensible, to be applied in other teaching areas, trying not to be limited to the software testing area. The construction of this model makes use of practical teaching approaches supported by practices, such as gamification and playful teaching to motivate and engage participants, bringing common tasks and technologies in the software industry in parallel to classic lecture classes, in order to develop certain skills, which were obtained through academic syllabus, together with technical skills in software testing for participants, in addition to knowledge of several open source tools that are used by testing professionals in the software industry. This construction is specified in several stages arranged in a teaching cycle, being sequenced when they are applied and can be adapted for other learning scenarios. Subsequently, the skills, competences and support materials that can be used are presented, in addition to the possible effects expected on students from the application of this model in the teaching of software testing. As it uses practical teaching approaches, it is advisable that this model is used by professors who have a teaching facilitator profile, as it presents humanistic teaching learning, with a focus on participants and teamwork, principles found in agile methods, in which activities will have deliveries of products that approach what is performed in a software company and it will be necessary the interaction of all participants in the model. The evaluation process for this teaching model took place in two stages. First, there was an analysis and individual evaluation of the model through the questionnaire, then there was a consensus meeting between the evaluators, where they justified the marks attributed in the evaluation and their considerations on other responses. This meeting aimed to solve disagreements and collect opinions, enabling problems to be solved and reaching a final consensus among the evaluators. The authors consider that it is necessary to remodel teaching paradigms of computing subjects, using together some characteristics of traditional approaches with more practical teaching approaches that solidify the knowledge of the participants for the challenges that exist in the software industry.