Experience with Teaching Software Quality Assurance Dušanka Bošković Computing and Informatics Bachelor Programme Faculty of Electrical Engineering Sarajevo, 2007/08

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Background Computing and Informatics Bachelor Degree, 6th semester Elective, counterpart to Software Engineering 4 ECTS, 30 hours lectures + 15 hours labs The very first ‘Bologna’ generation 45 students Reliability and software quality control

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Organisation 7 week lectures + 1 week midterm exam 1 7 week lectures + 1 week midterm exam 2 5 assignments Oral exam Grade: Attendance 10% Assignment 10% Midterm exams 20% + 20% Oral 40% Make-up exam

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Topics SQA Fundamentals and Organisation Standards ISO 9001:2004 Software Quality Models Software Quality Control Techniques – Inspections and Reviews Software Metrics Verification and Validation SQA Plan Cost Estimation

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Text Book Reference texts: Schulmeyer, Mcmanus, The Handbook of Software Quality Assurance Mostly theoretical, comprehensive Excellent case studies and very systematic Galin, Software Quality Assurance : From Theory to Implementation, Very useful and concise: Pressman!!! Additional references needed for: Metrics, Testing, Standards – ISO, CMMI

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Challenges Topics not highly rated or relevant to ‘real programming’ Dynamic and interactive lectures, Real world examples – courses, certification, consultancy Emphasizing soft skills Requires non-trivial case study Open source In house software Coupling with the SE or other similar course

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Laboratory exercises Communication skills exercise Presentation skills Software LC process modelling using flow diagrams Code Inspections Case study - Mortgage Calculator Metrics - LOC, SLOC, NCLC Case study – Mortgage Calculator White Box testing Case study – Mortgage Calculator Black Box testing Case study – ZAMGER – (app for student progression and success rates reporting)

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Assignment 1 Modelling software LC as a business process Agile, Rapid Prototyping, Waterfall, Spiral. 8 teams of 5-6 students.ppt presentations, questions, comments, discussions

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Assignment 2 Software Quality Model ISO 9126 – Case study Moodle open source CMS 12 teams of 2-5 students – same teams as for the SE course Each team writing a paper about one characteristics, but each student within a team describes different sub-characteristics

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Assignments 3 and 4 Reports on lab excersizes: Inspections Report - Mortgage Calculator Metrics Results - Mortgage Calculator White box testing plan and report – Mortgage Calculator Black box testing plan and report – ZAMGER - Zadacha Manager 12 teams

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Assignment 5 Software Quality Assurance Plan Individual assignment Framework for oral exam

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Exam 6-8 open questions: list, define, describe, associate, categorize 5-6 multiple choice questions 2 questions to calculate, illustrate or apply technique: Draw diagrams for a set of data(Pareto), Model with process flow diagram or vice versa Draw graph for a segment of code and calculate metrics Define tests values for boundary or domain equivalence... Questions reflecting issues from the assignments and the labs Success rates: 42 (out of 45) passed exam in the first term, 2 students passed in July, 1 student in September

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Exam - Distribution of the exam results

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Conclusion Motivating if interactive, addressing soft skills important Students like challenges (good students) but needs good managment Coupling with SE imperative – apart from compliance issues, makes real project assignments feasible Separate course for testing techniques?

8th Workshop “Software Engineering Education and Reverse Engineering” Durres, Albania, 8 – 13 September 2008 Thank you for your attention! Questions are welcomed!