Skills matter, and the BBST Courses focus on developing a tester’s skills

There is definitely a need for a training that involves software testers in their own development. A training that allows individuals to participate with other testers and instructors. In the process, we want to have testers learn, and practice, valuable skills that will bring them to a higher level. For any aspiring tester (and for many seasoned veterans as well), I would make the same suggestion. Take the Black Box Software Testing courses offered by the Association for Software Testing (hereafter referred to as “BBST”).

At the outset, I should make something very clear. I am the Chair of the Education Special Interest Group for the Association for Software Testing. We offer these courses as a benefit for our members. This entire article could be seen as a “puff piece” and as a “marketing push”, with me trying to sell you something. That’s fair, and to be honest, I would love for as many people as possible to take the BBST classes as possible. Having said all that, I see Tweets from participants that say this series of classes is the most valuable and worthwhile they have participated in. Don’t take my word for it, go to Twitter and look for the hashtag #BBST and see for yourself.

The Association for Software Testing is a non-profit organization. It exists with an aim to improve the practice of software testing. To that end, we believe strongly in the value of teaching courses that are skills based, practical, and would give any tester an immediate advantage in the marketplace. We do this for testers, and not to make a bunch of money (the money we do make pays to run the classes and other programs throughout the year).

Our classes are run through a staff of wonderful volunteers. Those volunteers help us make sure we can offer these courses to you. They range from people who help with registration, technical support, scheduling, and course delivery. We also provide a group of instructors that help coach and mentor participants through each of the courses. I should mention that none of the instructors, at this time, get paid for teaching classes through AST. It’s entirely voluntary.
Those of us that teach these classes do so because we find tremendous value in the classes, and we wish to give as many testers as possible the same benefits. Who are our instructors? They are all previous course participants. In other words, they are people who took the BBST classes. We are always on the lookout for great instructors, so if you take the classes and like your experience, consider joining the AST Education Special Interest Group (EdSIG) and help us teach more software testers.

What is BBST?
BBST grew out of various research grants from the National Science Foundation, and initially started and was taught at Florida Institute of Technology by Cem Kaner as a full semester course on software testing. Realizing that BBST would also be of benefit to a broader population of testers, the courses were split into a variety of sections, and those sections were converted into online classes.

What is BBST’s objective?
Our objectives in these series of classes are based around working with testers from a variety of countries, company, areas of expertise, and past experiences. While the primary content of each course is similar, the combined experiences of all participants in any given class are what make each class a unique experience. We want to focus on helping testers understand and learn from the different challenges they all face, that what works wonderfully in one environment may not work so well in another environment.

What are BBST’s benefits?
The BBST classes are designed to focus on giving testers real world and hands on practice in a variety of testing areas. At this point, AST offers three BBST classes (Foundations, Bug Advocacy and Test Design). Additionally, we have an Instructor’s Course for those who want to teach the classes. To reiterate, our instructors help us continue our mission of offering high quality training at a low cost, and have that training help develop real testing skills.

The Foundations class, while it focuses on testing skills and real world examples, the bigger takeaways are the ability to perform solid peer review of other participants. Foundations helps testers learn how to interact with and complete projects in an online, asynchronous environment (for many participants, this is the first “online” course of this type that they have taken). They learn to work as a group, examine key issues in software testing, and come to grips with challenges and opportunities to learn and grow.

Bug Advocacy is exactly as it sounds. It’s a class that focuses on bug finding and bug reporting. More than just filing bugs, the “Advocacy” part of the title indicates the true intent. We are advocates for each of these bugs. How do we know that we have a major problem on our hands? How urgent is it to take care of this compared to other issues? What issues are worth fighting for? What aren’t? Most important, how can we communicate our findings in the most effective ways possible? How do we make sure that those issues, the ones that are the most important, actually get fixed?

Test Design is focused on a broad overview of testing techniques, using several of them in depth during the course. This course introduces the tester to the Heuristic Test Strategy Model, which is a framework that testers can use to help them develop ideas for testing. In addition to the peer review from participants, instructors also give direct feedback to participants and help them focus their efforts and ways towards improving their understanding and testing skill.

How to register for and attend BBST Classes
Currently, BBST classes are offered to AST members as a benefit of their membership. To take the classes through AST, and to use our mentor model with assistant instructors, you will need to be a member of AST (http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/about/membership/). The price for the classes is low: It costs $125 to take the Foundations course, and $200 to take either Bug Advocacy or Test Design. The Instructor’s course is Free, but requires a successful completion of Foundations to participate.

How to prepare for BBST Classes
The courses are highly interactive. Participants need to be regularly engaged and involved, even if they are long term and seasoned veterans of software testing. We focus on class notes, interactive discussions, recorded lectures, and group and individual assignments. These things take time. Having said that, if you spend anywhere between sixty and ninety minutes each day focused on the material, the exercises and the group assignments, you will probably do well. I cannot give a set amount of time you should spend, since it will vary from person to person. If I had to make a suggestion, seven to ten hours per week should be sufficient, but again, each participant is different.

How to Succeed in BBST Classes
The best recommendation I can make to any participant is to do a little each day, interact with your fellow participants, and generally approach the course as an opportunity to see software testing in a different light. Yes, there is reading, lectures, assignments, and quizzes. There is work involved. It does take time and effort.

About those quizzes. We use them to help participants gauge their understanding of the material. We should also note that the questions are structured so that it is very difficult to guess the right answer. Participants need to know and understand the material, and it’s common for some participants to score low on these quizzes. Do not interpret this as an indicator as to whether or not you will successfully complete the course. Look at this as an opportunity to see what you understand vs. what you may need to review again. The quizzes are there for your learning and understanding.

BBST uses a final exam that’s based on essay questions. We give you access to all the possible final exam questions on day one of the course. We encourage everyone to work through those questions, and to create strong and informed answers, and share them with your classmates.

Additionally, all participants are encouraged to review each other’s work, and during the final exam, peer review is part of everyone’s final completion criteria. In BBST classes, it’s not enough to know an answer, but to be able to defend your answer, as well as demonstrate learning and new understanding based on the reviews provided.

If I have to offer any cautionary words, it is to allow yourself to check preconceived notions and biases at the door. In my experience, those most likely to not complete the course are not those who provide weak answers on exams, or get low scores on quizzes. Usually it is because the participants in question are too fixed in their ways to accept legitimate criticism, feedback and insights from their fellow participants.

Ultimately, we work towards not giving you the “right” answer, but to help you formulate your own plans and ideas. We ask you to consider why your answer is a good one, and possibly the best one, for that situation. We believe this is why we have been successful, why every month we see so many people tell others via Twitter and other means that they have completed one of our courses, and their excitement at doing so is contagious. Again, you would expect me to say that, since I’m the one, along with AST, offering the classes. To that I say, again, do a search for the #BBST hashtag on Twitter, and draw your own conclusions.
We encourage you to go to www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org and give the BBST classes a try for yourself. You may be very surprised just how much you learn and how much you can use, immediately, in your own organizations.

This article was published in our February 2014 edition.

https://i0.wp.com/www.testingcircus.com/wp-content/uploads/BBST-Education-Michael-Larsen.jpg?fit=500%2C332&ssl=1https://i0.wp.com/www.testingcircus.com/wp-content/uploads/BBST-Education-Michael-Larsen.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1Michael LarsenArticlesBBST Course,Black Box Software TestingSkills matter, and the BBST Courses focus on developing a tester’s skills There is definitely a need for a training that involves software testers in their own development. A training that allows individuals to participate with other testers and instructors. In the process, we want to have testers learn, and...