Software testing is an increasingly critical skill, however the subject is not widely taught in universities or in industry. Through this project, researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology are accelerating the widespread adoption of a successful course in software testing by (a) developing and sustaining a cadre of academic, in-house, and commercial instructors via an instructor orientation course offered online; an ongoing online instructors'' forum; and a number of face-to-face instructor meetings; (b) offering and evaluating the course at collaborating research sites (including both universities and businesses)- in the process, the project is creating one adaptation of the course to a purely online environment and another adaptation for a minority-serving university; (c) analyzing several collections of in-class activities to abstract a set of themes / patterns that can help instructors quickly create new activities as needed; and (d) extending instructional support material including grading guides and a pool of exam questions for teaching the course.
All of the materials, videos, slides, exams, grading guides, instructor manuals, etc., are Creative Commons licensed. Most are available freely to the public. A few items designed to help instructors grade student work are being made available at no charge. The instructional model devotes class time to coached activities, interactive discussions and student presentations by assigning students to view studio-produced lecture videos delivered via the Internet before coming to class.
