An agile approach to integrating community projects in HEI: a qualitative study

Abstract

In 2015, the United Nations announced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goals 10 and 16 are aimed at reducing inequalities, encouraging awareness, and building diverse societies. Many organizations have embarked on the journey of finding ways to explore sustainable development issues and identify ways to resolve them. This is particularly true of Higher Education Institutions which often focus on traditional theoretical foundations. In this paper, the fields of ICT and Engineering within the Faculty of ICT's Work Integrated Learning (WIL) curriculum at a Higher education Institution (HEI) were explored. Using an Agile approach, the learners were tasked to develop a solution for children belonging to the Down Syndrome Association as part of a community engagement initiative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the learners at an HEI in Johannesburg, South Africa and the interview transcripts were analysed. We used inductive thematic analysis/ coding and the themes that emerged were coding for a cause and community engagement, the role of agile approaches in future WIL projects, and learners' perceptions of global citizenship.