About BBST-Foundations

Basic Information

  • This first course is a basic introduction to black box testing. It presents basic terminology and considers:
    • the mission of testing
    • the oracle problem
    • the measurement problem
    • the impossibility of complete testing
  • This course is a prerequisite for all later AST Black Box Software Testing courses. The next one in the series considers Bug Advocacy. After that, we work on various test techniques.
  • Each AST course includes video lectures, quizzes, homework of various kinds, and a final exam. All of the homework, and the exam, are peer-reviewed. Every participant in the course reviews work submitted by other participants and provides feedback and suggests grades.

Learning Objectives for AST-BBST Foundations

This is your first course in the BBST series, and perhaps your first online course. This leads us to mixed objectives. In essence, our goal is to prepare you for the later courses in the series. That includes both, foundational content and skills for succeeding in courses of this type.

  Objective Anderson/Krathwohl level
1 Familiar with basic terminology and how it will be used in the BBST courses Understand
2 Aware of honest and rational controversy over definitions of common concepts and terms in the field Understand
3 Understand there are legitimately different missions for a testing effort. Understand the argument that selection of mission depends on contextual factors . Able to evaluate relatively simple situations that exhibit strongly different contexts in terms of their implication for testing strategies. Understand, Simple evaluation
4 Understand the concept of oracles well enough to apply multiple oracle heuristics to their own work and explain what they are doing and why Understand and apply
5 Understand that complete testing is impossible. Improve ability to estimate and explain the size of a testing problem. Understand, rudimentary application
6 Familiarize students with the concept of measurement dysfunction Understand
7 Improve students' ability to adjust their focus from narrow technical problems (such as analysis of a single function or parameter) through broader, context-rich problems Analyze
8 Improve online study skills, such as learning more from video lectures and associated readings Apply
9 Improve online course participation skills, including online discussion and working together online in groups Apply
10 Increase student comfort with formative assessment (assessment done to help students take their own inventory, think and learn rather than to pass or fail the students)
Apply

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