Teaching students using Design-First Test-Driven Development

Dixon, John; Brayshaw, Mike; Gordon, Neil; Grey, Simon; Parker, David; Tompsett, Brian

Abstract

This paper explores a test-driven approach to teaching within Higher Education. Test-driven here is derived from the Software Engineering approach, where the test cases for software are defined prior to the software being fully developed. The emphasis is thus first on the design of the application before any concerns about implementation details. This emphasises the central role of design in Software Engineering and HCI. This paper considers how realistically the test driven approach can be applied to teaching. It explores several aspects, including how far this test-driven teaching is already practiced, especially with the adoption of e-learning which enables a whole range of automatic testing to be applied to teaching and learning. The paper explores how tests can be carried out, in terms of assessment of students’ learning, as well as the other dimensions of the student experience. This work continues from the authors’ INSPIRE 2021 talk, on Gamification and Agile development in teaching software development, in finding ways to better engage and motivate neophyte software developers. Whilst gamification offers one path for better engagement, this paper presents another route which starts from the bigger picture, with a focus on design.

Citation

Dixon, J., Brayshaw, M., Gordon, N., Grey, S., Parker, D., & Tompsett, B. (2022, June). Teaching students using Design-First Test-Driven Development. Presented at INSPIRE XXVII: E-Learning for Sustainabilty and Education Beyond Pandemic, Online

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: INSPIRE XXVII: E-Learning for Sustainabilty and Education Beyond Pandemic
• Start Date: Jun 14, 2022
• End Date: Jun 16, 2022
• Acceptance Date: May 18, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 18, 2023
• Publication Date: May 18, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 19, 2023
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 141 - 152
• Book Title: Twenty Seventh International Conference on E-Learning for Sustainability and Education Beyond Pandemic. INSPIRE 2022
• ISBN: 9781859232897
• Keywords: test-driven development, agile teaching, computing education
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4292500
• Publisher URL: https://www.bcs.org/media/10537/inspire-2022-proceedings.pdf