Instructor-Written Hints as Automated Test Suite Quality Feedback
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Mutation testing measures a test suite's ability to detect bugs by inserting bugs into the code and seeing if the tests behave differently. Mutation testing has recently seen increased adoption in industrial and open-source software but sees limited use in education. Some instructors use manually-constructed mutants to evaluate student tests and provide general automated feedback. Additional tutoring requires more intensive instructor interaction such as in office hours, which requires substantial resources at scale. Prior work suggests that students benefit from frequent, actionable feedback, and our work focuses on the challenge of leveraging automation to give students high-quality feedback when they need it.
Institutions: Northeastern University, University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4407681639