2006 Call for Participation
Indianapolis, June 8-10, 2006
(Follows the Conference of the Association for Software Testing, see http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org/conference/)
There is no charge to attend this workshop. Participation will be
limited to 15 (at most, 20) people, selected on the basis of
applications to attend. See the notes on HOW TO APPLY below.
Hosts: Cem Kaner and Michael Kelly
Facilitated by: Paul Holland
OVERVIEW
WOC is our first step in developing a new approach to certifying the knowledge of software testers. Here's our vision:
- Imagine an exam based primarily on courses and readings available
free on the web. (Learn at your own pace, skip the $2000 review
course.)
Imagine an exam available free to anyone at anytime. For
example, during a job interview, connect to the exam web site. It
prepares a stratified sample of 50 questions from a much larger pool.
You take the test then and there. You and the interviewer see the
questions you answered and the answers you gave. Your percentage
correct is interesting, but in many interviews, discussing the specific
answers can yield far better insight. - Imagine that instead of pretending that the significant questions
of Testing have One True Answer, we invite discussion and dissenting
opinions. Each question in the pool has its own discussion page. When
someone takes a test, the feedback for each question provides a link to
the discussion of that question, along with "correct" or "incorrect."
Our intention is to create an organization (perhaps a nonprofit
corporation) that owns copyright in all of the exam materials and
discussions but that grants the public a right to republish or reuse
them -- essentially a free software license (more precisely, Creative
Commons license with attribution).
GOAL OF THIS MEETING
The goal of this meeting is to figure out how to do this, and to get started doing it.
We have the usual logistic questions:
And the policy questions:
- Who should edit? (Perhaps any registered user can contribute, but
should we periodically reorganize the discussion of a topic, merging
topics, dropping redundant or irrelevant comments? This is common on
wiki's. If that's our model, who does the editing?)
- Should we allow a diversity of exams? Imagine a pool of 2000
questions, categorized into various areas. A stratified sample of these
randomly chooses questions, but might choose a higher proportion of
questions from one area than another based on the weights assigned to
each area. Perhaps the site should offer several exams, differing in
their weights (and thus the overall selection of questions asked). In
this way, one person might design an "agile" testing exam, another a
traditional black box testing exam and so on. Should we let any
registered user create a weighting scheme and a named exam type? If so,
should we manage the potentially overwhelming variety by popularity
scores or peer review scores (think of slashdot.com, for example)?
- What is the process for accepting a question into the pool?
STRUCTURE OF THE MEETING
We will have facilitated discussions, in which people share experiences
(on test design, test administration, etc.) and concerns.
We will also have breakout sessions, small groups who try out some of
the ideas we're talking about, and report back on their experience.
OUTCOME
We want to create a better certification exam process and better exams.
For now, we are planning to create multiple-choice type tests. These
have limited value. They don't test skill. At some point, we will
develop skill-based testing as well. However, that type of testing is
often very demanding on the expert evaluator, and so these experts
would have to be paid. Skill-focused exams are often expensive. We will
get to discussions/designs of tests that evaluate higher levels of
knowledge, but not in this first meeting.
We are building something to serve the testing community, and inviting
participation by the community. However, we are not creating a
professional society or a business. We might select an advisory board
(we hope to) and we might select a small group of core organizers who
become a board of directors for the formal entity (nonprofit
corporation?) that officially owns the materials. But we are not
planning to hold elections or public votes. We are not trying to create
the illusion that we represent the field or that we can speak for it as
a standards body. Instead, we have a vision for serving the testing
community by building a better set of exams, and we are asking for
help, guidance, and refinement (or fundamental revision) of the vision.
CURRENT LIST OF ATTENDEES
At this point, the following applicants have been accepted to WOC. This is not yet a final list, but it's close.
The list will probably grow
by two additional people (we're in discussion with them). If someone
you know or want to attend is not on this list, they should contact us
soon (Cem Kaner and Mike Kelly).
MORE ON THE MEETING
We will get together Wednesday night after CAST. Probably, we'll have dinner somewhere downtown.
The workshop location will be sponsored by Wellpoint. The Wellpoint
(Anthem) building is in downtown Indianapolis just behind the Conseco
Fieldhouse.
Wellpoint (Anthem)
Ben Lytle Center
220 Virginia Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46204
This building is less then
one mile (about seven blocks) from the CAST conference hotel and should
be a nice walk if the weather is nice.
If youre attending CAST, the Crowne Plaza Hotel
(123 West Louisiana St. Indianapolis, IN 46225) has a conference rate
(which is quite good for downtown Indy). Call 1-877-227-6963 to make
your booking for the conference. You cannot get the conference rate
through the website. The block of reserved rooms at the hotel is
released on May 12th. You may want to book in advance to ensure there
is space.
Thursday / Friday / Saturday
/ we meet at Wellpoint (Anthem) at 8 AM. From 8 AM to 9 AM, we chat and
eat breakfast. From 9 AM to 5 PM we work. Some of us (anyone who comes
to WOC, and their guest, are invited) will go to dinner together each
night. Saturday, we will probably stop at 3 p.m.
Cem and Mike will provide
breakfast all three mornings and lunch on Saturday. Attendees will be
responsible for lunch on Thursday and Friday. We will be eating in the
Wellpoint cafeteria on those two days.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Write Cem Kaner or Mike Kelly.
CLOSING DISCLAIMER
This workshop has been scheduled in the same city as CAST, just after
CAST, but it is not sponsored by, run by, or otherwise affiliated with
the Association for Software Testing.
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