An Approach to Integrating Learning and Engagement Strategies (LESs) into CS Class Activities

Clarke, Peter J.; Davis, Debra; Buckley, Ingrid A.; Potvin, Geoff; Thirunarayanan, M. O.; Jones, Edward L.

doi:10.18260/1-2--32057

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition, the authors pointed out that the students evaluated the gamification experiences as very positive and they were engaged. (Clarke et al, 2019(Clarke et al, , 2022 evaluated whether increasing the use of a set of learning and engagement strategies that include gamification, referred to as LESs, improved the student performance. The authors compared the performance of the students minimally exposed to LESs with the performance of the students fully exposed to LESs and reported that the latter performed better.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the works use gamification to engage students in learning several testing techniques, such as the code review process (Dal Sasso et al, 2017;Khandelwal et al, 2017), exploratory testing (Costa & Olivei , statement coverage (Clegg et al, 2017;Sherif et al, 2020), loop coverage (Clegg et al, 2017), control flow testing (Buckley & Clarke, 2018;Clarke et al, 2019Clarke et al, , 2022Clarke et al, , 2020, dataflow testing (Buckley & Clarke, 2018;Clarke et al, 2019Clarke et al, , 2022Clarke et al, , 2020Clegg et al, 2017), equivalence partitioning (Buckley & Clarke, 2018;Clarke et al, 2019Clarke et al, , 2022Clarke et al, , 2020Jesus et al, 2020), boundary value analysis (Buckley & Clarke, 2018;Clarke et al, 2019Clarke et al, , 2022Clarke et al, , 2020Clegg et al, 2017;Jesus et al, 2020), state-based testing (Buckley & Clarke, 2018;Clarke et al, 2019Clarke et al, , 2022Clarke et al, , 2020 or mutation testing (Rojas & Fraser, 2016). Other works use gamification to motivate students to create test cases for findings bugs, such as (Fraser et al, 2019(Fraser et al, , 2020Silvis-Cividjian, 2021), which are the closest works to ours.…”

Section: Gamification In Software Testing Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working group on formal methods in HCI and software engineering

Bass

1995

Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction

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Software testing is an essential knowledge area required by industry for software engineers. However, software engineering students often consider testing less appealing than designing or coding.Consequently, it is difficult to engage students to create effective tests. To encourage students, we explored the use of gamification and investigated whether this technique can help to improve the engagement and performance of software testing students. We conducted a controlled experiment to compare the engagement and performance of two groups of students that took an undergraduate software testing course in different academic years. The experimental group is formed by 135 students from the gamified course whereas the control group is formed by 100 students from the non-gamified course. The data collected were statistically analyzed to answer the research questions of this study.The results show that the students that participated in the gamification experience were more engaged and achieved a better performance. As an additional finding, the analysis of the results reveals that a key aspect to succeed is the gamification experience design. It is important to distribute the motivating stimulus provided by the gamification throughout the whole experience to engage students until the end. Given these results, we plan to readjust the gamification experience design to increase student engagement in the last stage of the experience, as well as to conduct a longitudinal study to evaluate the effects of gamification.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gamification In Software Testing Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working group on formal methods in HCI and software engineering

Bass

1995

Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction

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Combining Learning and Engagement Strategies in a Software Testing Learning Environment

Clarke

DavisDebra

BuckleyIngrid

et al. 2021

ACM Trans. Comput. Educ.

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There continues to be an increase in enrollments in various computing programs at academic institutions due to many job opportunities available in the information, communication, and technology sectors. This enrollment surge has presented several challenges in many Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT), and Software Engineering (SE) programs at universities and colleges. One such challenge is that many instructors in CS/IT/SE programs continue to use learning approaches that are not learner centered and therefore are not adequately preparing students to be proficient in the ever-changing computing industry. To mitigate this challenge, instructors need to use evidence-based pedagogical approaches, e.g., active learning, to improve student learning and engagement in the classroom and equip students with the skills necessary to be lifelong learners. This article presents an approach that combines learning and engagement strategies (LESs) in learning environments using different teaching modalities to improve student learning and engagement. We describe how LESs are integrated into face-to-face (F2F) and online class activities. The LESs currently used are collaborative learning , gamification , problem-based learning , and social interaction . We describe an approach used to quantify each LES used during class activities based on a set of characteristics for LESs and the traditional lecture-style pedagogical approaches. To demonstrate the impact of using LESs in F2F class activities, we report on a study conducted over seven semesters in a software testing class at a large urban minority serving institution. The study uses a posttest-only study design, the scores of two midterm exams, and approximate class times dedicated to each LES and traditional lecture style to quantify their usage in a face-to-face software testing class. The study results showed that increasing the time dedicated to collaborative learning, gamification, and social interaction and decreasing the traditional lecture-style approach resulted in a statistically significant improvement in student learning, as reflected in the exam scores.

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An Approach to Integrating Learning and Engagement Strategies (LESs) into CS Class Activities

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

Working group on formal methods in HCI and software engineering

Working group on formal methods in HCI and software engineering

Combining Learning and Engagement Strategies in a Software Testing Learning Environment

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