Teaching Software Verification and Validation Course: a Case Study

Abstract

Software verification and validation (V & V) is one of the significant areas of software engineering for developing high quality software. It is also becoming part of the curriculum of a universities' software and computer engineering departments. This paper reports the experience of teaching undergraduate software engineering students and discusses the main problems encountered during the course, along with suggestions to overcome these problems. This study covers all the different topics generally covered in the software verification and validation course, including static verification and validation. It is found that prior knowledge about software quality concepts and good programming skills can help students to achieve success in this course. Further, team work can be chosen as a strategy, since it facilitates students' understanding and motivates them to study. It is observed that students were more successful in white box testing than in black box testing.