Agile Education

Reflection from a higher education institution

About

• Higher Diploma in Software

Engineering

• ISO + Lean practices

• Agile in Software

Development & Academic

Activities

EduCrisis

Image: TuoiTre & LaoDong

Our Problems

• Old-fashion teaching &

learning

• School-Industry Gap

• Low Employability

• Low Readiness

• Diversity of students

Curriculum

Values How

Agile Help?

Teaching

Management

Measurement

Agile Values - Recap

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

7

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

AgileManifesto.org

Agile Education

Ability of self-directed learning over measurement and certification;

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

We value

Time for New Curriculum

“Agility in software development has

implications for organizational agility. The

shift to agile methods and models signals a

larger transformation in the workplace and

the organization of the 21st century”

Linda Levine, Software Engineering Institute

10

Reasons for

1. was evolved and is applied in the

industry

2. educates for teamwork

3. deals with human aspects

4. encourages diversity

5. supports learning processes

6. improves habits of mind

7. emphasizes management skills

8. enhances ethical norms

9. highlights a comprehensive image

of software engineering

10. provides a single teachable

framework Hazzan & Dubinsky,

Why Software Engineering

Programs Should Teach Agile

Software Development

Agile Curriculum

Agile Curriculum

• Embedding agile practices to existing courses

– Pair Programming

– TDD

– Simple Design\Agile Modeling

– Refactoring

– Continuous Integration

– User story

– Scrum …

• New full-featured courses: agile developers, agile software construction\development, Scrum foundation, agile coaching, ...

Several empirical researches reported that agile practices foster the learning process

of software development, and results in positive learning outcomes.

Teaching Shift

NO Meaningless Learning

Enrich Learning Experience

Scrum Team & Scrum tool

Meeting Professionals

Active Learning

Coding Dojo

Building Software

Agile Instruction

• “Individuals and interactions” focused

• Maximizing communication

• Just-in-time

– Light-weight adaptive planning (in Scrum way) &

implementation

– Continuous & diversified evaluation

• Short feedback cycles

• Continuous improvement (kaizen)

Scrum provides an extremely useful framework for

MANAGEMENT

Scrum

Adaptation

Inspection Transparency

Daily Meeting & TaskBoard These practices help in transparency, team collaboration and efficiency

Empower the Team

Cross-functional Self-organizing Team

Remove Command-Control culture

Functional Hierarchical Teams

Command-Control

Measurement

• “Ability of self-directed

learning”

• Rapid and short feedback

lifecycle

• Built-in integrity

• Test-first*

Really

Good Stuffs

• Daily Standup

• Retrospectives

• Backlogs and JIT planning

• ScrumBoard

(taskboard\Kanban)

• Short Feedback Cycle

• Value-based

Implementation

:-)

To conclude..

“Agile development is no silver bullet, but it is useful.

Organizationally, agile delivers value and reduces costs;

technically, it highlights excellence and minimal bugs;

personally, many find it their preferred way to work.”

James Shore “The Art of Agile Development”

BACK UP SLIDES

7

Principles

for

Best

Practices

1. Encourages Student-Faculty

Contact

2. Encourages Cooperation

among students

3. Encourages Active Learning

4. Gives Prompt Feedback

5. Emphasizes Time on Task

6. Communicates High

Expectations

7. Respects Diverse Talents and

Ways of Learning [Chickering and Gamson]

Agile supports these principles

What Employers

Want

• Basic Skills: Reading, Writing, and

Mathematics

• Foundation Skills: Knowing How to Learn

• Communication Skills: Listening and Oral

Communication

• Adaptability: Problem Solving and Creative

Thinking

• Group Effectiveness: Interpersonal Skills,

Negotiation, and Teamwork

• Influence: Organizational Effectiveness and

Leadership

• Personal Management: Self-Esteem and

Motivation/Goal Setting

• Attitude: Cognitive Style

• Applied Skills: Occupational and

Professional Competencies [ETS, “Standard for what?”]

References 1. Chickering, A. W. and Gamson, Z. F. (1989), Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.

Biochemical Education, 17: 140–141. doi: 10.1016/0307-4412(89)90094-0

2. Educational Testing Services (2003), Standards for What?, The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform

(http://www.learndoearn.org/For-Educators/Standards-for-What.pdf )

3. Hazzan O. and Dubinsky Y. (2007), Why Software Engineering Programs Should Teach Agile Software

Development, SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes, Vol. 32, No. 2. (March 2007), pp. 1-3,

4. Johnston, A.J. & Johnson, C.S. (2010), 'Extreme Programming in the University', Annual International Conference

on Computer Science Education: Innovation and Technology, Phuket, Thailand, December 2010 in Proceedings of

Annual International Conference on Computer Science Education: Innovation and Technology (CSEIT 2010), ed

Anton Ravindran, Global Science and Technology Forum, Singapore, pp. 3-8.

5. Linda Levine (2005), Reflection on Software Agility and Agile Methods: challenges, dilemmas, & the way ahead,

(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/assets/reflections.pdf )

6. Lu, B, and DeClue T. (2011), Teaching agile methodology in a software engineering capstone course, Journal of

Computing Sciences in Colleges, Volume 26 Issue 5, May 2011, Pages 293-299

7. Maamar, Z. , Issa, G. , Daoud, D. , Turani, A. & Zaroor, M.I. (2011), Incorporating innovative practices in software

engineering education, Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2011 IEEE

8. Melnik G. and Maurer F. (2003), Introducing Agile Methods in Learning Environments: Lessons Learned , Lecture

Notes in Computer Science, 2003, Volume 2753/2003, 172-184, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-45122-8_20

9. Rico D. F. and Sayani H. H. (2009), Use of agile methods in software engineering education, Agile Conference

2009.

10. Soria A., Campo M. R. and Rodriguez G. (2012) ,Improving Software Engineering Teaching by Introducing Agile

Management , 41 JAIIO - ASSE 2012 - ISSN: 1850-2792 - Page 215

11. Steve Peha(2011), Agile Schools: How Technology Saves Education (Just Not the Way We Thought it Would),

InfoQ (http://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-schools-education)

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