Expected Outcomes

In this project, we are developing a suite of multimedia programs based on WWW (World Wide Web) technology. This approach will provide students with a readily accessible software system through which they can interact and learn how object-oriented testing really works in a step-wise fashion. The system draws on underlying principles to develop interactive simulation programs to help students’ comprehension of O-O software testing through dynamic displays and animation of the software elements.

• The case studies will contain OO testing material presented in a "virtual classroom" mode with a student-centered navigation facility.
• There will be simulated examples of object-oriented testing at various levels of complexity. These interactive simulations will involve static and animated views of the paths traversed by software elements as well as state changes of objects.
• Appropriate UML diagrams are made test ready by including details of constraints as part of state/event transitions and used in the simulation and animation of OO testing processes
• The system will incorporate improvements suggested in formative and summative evaluations.

The tool will also have self-assessment and feedback facilities for student assessment through additional problem based learning questions, and related assessment component, which will be completed as part of their coursework assessment.

The system is under development and is accessible through web browsers such as Netscape from a variety of hardware platforms such as Windows 95 & NT and Unix machines. The interactive multimedia code and the supporting instructions are being programmed using the widely used internet languages of JAVA, JavaScript, HTML, authoring tools such as Macromedia Director, Flash, and web design tools such as DreamWeaver. On-line forms are being implemented for feedback from students and used in monitoring their understanding and progress. The result is a web based computer assisted learning system which includes both the theory on object-oriented testing and the use of the latest WWW technology with multimedia facilities to enable students to visualise the way object-oriented testing really works. It is expected that the students will be motivated to interact with and learn about the topic area by using this system as it provides a student-centered approach to learning.

Students will recognise the need to test the software systems that they implement. They will undertake this task of software testing systematically by visualising execution paths and state changes in the tested program. The students will produce better test data (for their assessable components) that takes the possible states of the objects and their interaction during system execution by simulated and animated examples using techniques such as finite-state machines and event interaction diagrams.

With this system, students have an opportunity to explore the material at their pace and have on-line monitoring and feedback features. The use of internet technology to make the system available on the student's computer in the University and elsewhere obviously increases the accessibility of the system. By providing the system on the Internet, the students have the flexibility of learning at their own pace. Thus we provide both time and space flexibility in the learning process.