A Tool to Support a Gamified Software Testing Course
Gamification. Software Testing. Octalisys. Level Up. Case Study. Tool. Teaching.
Software testing is often neglected by software development companies, a direct reflection of an academic background that largely sidelines or omits systematic teaching of this essential stage of the software lifecycle. This lack of emphasis in the university environment contributes to student demotivation and disinterest, who ultimately fail to recognize the relevance of testing in professional practice. A previous study proposed a gamified approach to teaching Software Testing based on the Level-Up methodology. In this study, we evaluated this approach to identify limitations and propose improvements. The approach was applied to two classes of Software Testing I at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), using the Latin Square experimental design to allow alternating traditional and gamified approaches between the participating groups. After completing the activities, the students evaluated the experience, comparing the two methodologies.
This experience helped identify critical points and opportunities for improvement. These limitations hindered the evaluation of the gamified approach and motivated the present work: proposing a tool to support gamified software testing instruction. With the tool proposed in this work, we aim to reinforce the potential of gamification as a pedagogical strategy for teaching software testing.