Software engineering for education focuses on developing technologies that make programming, testing and analysis more accessible to students. This workshop explored testing through gaming, which is popular with students, and can produce data worthy of analysis. Code Hunt is an industrial strength programming game which is now open in the community and available for research.
Two of the backbones of software engineering are programming and testing. Both of these require many hours of practice to acquire mastery. To encourage students to put in these hours of practice, educators often employ the element of fun. Generally, this involves setting engaging assignments which emphasize the visual, audio, mobile and social world in which the students now live. However, a common complaint in second or third year is that “students can’t program” which is usually interpreted as meaning they are not able to produce code readily for fundamental algorithms such as read a file or search a list. Recruiters in industry are famous for requiring applicants to write such code on the spot. Thus there is a dichotomy: how to maintain the self-motivation of students to practice coding skills, and at the same time focus on core algorithmic problems.
An answer is to use the challenge of a game. Games are everywhere these days, and the motivation to score, do better and complete the game is very high. We are familiar with the concept of playing against the computer, and the sense of achievement that is acquired when goals are reached or one wins. Winning is fun, and fun is seen as a vital ingredient in accelerating learning and retaining interest in what might be a long and sometimes boring journey towards obtaining a necessary skill.
The aim of the workshop was to act not only as a forum for the exchange of ideas, but also as a vehicle to stimulate, deepen, and widen partnership between software engineering and education fields internationally.
The workshop paid special attention to the open source Code Hunt data (players’ playing history) released by Microsoft Research.