Humor in Software Testing Education

2026-06-19

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge of diminished student engagement and affective investment in software testing education, often attributed to the perceived monotony of the subject. It presents the first systematic investigation into the effects of humor-based pedagogical interventions in undergraduate software testing courses at universities in Canada and Germany. Employing a mixed-methods approach—combining quantitative surveys with qualitative interviews—the research examines the impact of humor on students’ emotional engagement, sense of belonging, and creative thinking. Findings indicate that humor significantly enhances students’ involvement in testing tasks, fosters creativity, alleviates perceived tedium, and strengthens classroom belongingness, with particularly pronounced benefits for female students. The work proposes humor as an accessible, inclusive instructional strategy that offers an innovative pathway to improving the quality of software engineering education.

Abstract

Software testing is often perceived as monotonous, which can negatively influence students' emotional engagement with testing. While prior work suggests that humor can increase engagement in professional software development contexts, we know little about humor's effect in software testing education. This paper explores how humorous elements in software testing assignments affect students' emotional engagement, sense of belonging, and creative thinking. We introduced humor in introductory software testing courses at universities in Canada and Germany, and conducted a mixed-methods study with students. Our results show that humor had a strong positive influence on students' experiences of software testing. Students perceived testing as more engaging and less monotonous, felt more comfortable and accepted in class, and reported increased creative thinking about testing tasks. These effects were particularly strong for female students, especially with respect to sense of belonging. Our findings suggest that humor represents a low-threshold pedagogical approach which is beneficial for students, and has the potential to create a more welcoming learning environment.

Problem

• software testing education
• humor
• emotional engagement
• sense of belonging
• creative thinking

Innovation

• humor in education
• software testing pedagogy
• student engagement
• sense of belonging
• creative thinking