Teaching Agile Software Development Using Agile Methods: A Case Study

Abstract

Today, the dramatic impact of digital transformation on business, education and private life are becoming more apparent each day. Considering the effect of major environmental events such as the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, technology has become even more influential. In this context, the very rapid developments in technologies such as cloud computing, internet of things, machine learning, artificial intelligence and 5G and consequently the need for continuous upskilling of expert human resources have made the adaptation of traditional learning and teaching methods to this new human condition a vital issue. While the aforementioned phenomenon is being experienced, a talent gap is observed between the competencies of the graduates of Computer Science Engineering, Software Engineering, Industrial Engineering and other related departments and industry expectations as a result of the traditional education approaches of the universities. The shortening of the lifespan of the produced vocational knowledge day by day continues to increase this gap. For this reason, it has become more important than ever that higher education institutions have an approach that is more suitable for this dynamic environment. In this study, it has been examined whether the agile methods, which have become widespread within software industry in the last 15 years, have similar potential when used as a training method. During the study, 49 students from the engineering faculty of a Turkish University participated in the "Agile Software and Product Development" course. The curriculum design, learning experiences, student performance considerations and the other results have been shared. In this course, 3 Sprints are designed with 8 Agile Project Teams that are self-organized with the Scrum framework. Continuous team learning opportunities were evaluated and the difficulties encountered in applying "agility" approach to students while developing innovative ideas and the effect of agile method on the performance of learning were examined. The study is considered to provide useful information for universities, faculty members, agile coaches, students, and firms and professionals in the Information and Communication Technologies industry.