In context-driven testing, we choose techniques well-suited to serve the needs of the current context. This requires knowledge of and skill with many techniques. It requires understanding, for each technique, what kinds of problems are more readily exposed by the technique and what other kinds are better hunted with another technique. It requires understanding, for each technique, what skills, what knowledge, what resources, what schedule flexibility are necessary for using the technique, and if these are limited, what other technique might do almost as good a job for less. Without knowledge like this, testers can pay lip-service to context-driven testing, but they won’t know what to do.

BBST Test Design is a survey course. It presents a large number of test techniques at a superficial level—just enough to give the student a sense of what is possible. Then it focuses on a few techniques that are very different from each other, helping students develop some practical experience with each. The course suggests two frameworks for comparing and contrasting techniques and provides a large collection of references. These can help a student who is trying to decide how to test a particular product scan through the large set of possible techniques and pick a few for more detailed evaluation.

Here are the objectives of this course:

Gain familiarity with a variety of test techniques (Remember)

Learn structures for comparing objectives and strengths of different test techniques (Understand)

Use the Heuristic Test Strategy Model(Bach) for test planning and design (Apply)

Use concept mapping tools for test planning and specification-based analysis (Analyze)

Function testing (Apply)

Risk-based testing (Analyze)

Specification-based testing (Analyze)

Domain testing (Create)

Scenario testing (Understand)

Multi-variable testing (Apply)

By this time you probably are familiar with interactive grading. In case you have not yet opted for it, we encourage you to give it a try.
As Cem Kaner defines it, interactive grading is “a technique that requires the student to participate in the grading of their work”. This provides an opportunity for the students to better demonstrate what they understood from the course material, and to get helpful feedback directly from the instructor on what to improve and how.

We think that interactive grading encapsulates the essence of formative assessment, by focusing on the learning experience of the student, not on the grade. For more info on interactive grading, please read Cem Kaner’s post here.

An important note is that during interactive grading, your grade on the exam cannot go lower than in the case of an evaluation where you receive written feedback. The session can only help you demonstrate more knowledge and thus increase your grade. With this weight lifted off from your chest, it is worth mentioning that our focus is on the learning experience during the course, and not on the grade.

For this course, as you are accustomed already, you will use multiple resources to study:

the video lectures and slides

the assignments and labs in the Canvas platform

the required and recommended readings

The assignments are based on all these resources. This means that you will need to use them all in your learning in order to successfully accomplish the tasks for the course.