Breaking the Glass – Improving Students’ White-Box Testing Competencies using Game-Design Elements

As the complexity and scale of software products continue to grow, software testing has become an increasingly crucial aspect of the software development process. Despite its importance, there is a significant discrepancy between students' interest in software development and the less tangible, yet critical tasks of testing and quality assessment, particularly in the area of white-box testing. Furthermore, persistent knowledge gaps in creating high-quality test cases contribute to industry-wide competency deficiencies. This study addresses these challenges by employing a design science research approach to implement a gamified learning system, with the aim of enhancing students' competencies to design high-quality test cases. This approach emphasises the rigorous verification practices for software products. Furthermore, insights from a field test further validate the effectiveness of the learning process of this gamified learning system.