Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Frontiers in Software Engineering

ICFSE 2021: Frontiers in Software Engineering pp 97–112Cite as

Skills Development Through Agile Capstone Projects

Part of the Communications in Computer and Information Science book series (CCIS,volume 1523)

Abstract

Agile development, which has been accepted by many organizations in the area of management and software engineering in the last two decades, nowadays, tends to become an emerging teaching and learning methodology in higher education. A great number of educational institutions are offering courses in programming and software engineering using agile methods, setting aside the traditional teaching. This paper attempts to point out the impact of agile methodology in skills’ development on university students. Its aim is to explain Scum’s application in university students of a computer science program in a capstone project. It tries to identify the role of agile methods in improving students’ transversal skills such as communication, collaboration, team cohesion, team self-organization and autonomy, problem-solving, creativity, and generally project planning skills as well as the need for training in agile methods. The research is based on a survey concerning a capstone project implemented by students of Hellenic Open University (HOU). Results indicate that implementation of agile methods can benefit project team members and help them develop both their transversal skills and team working characteristics.

Keywords

  • Agile methodology
  • Higher education
  • Transversal skills

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   64.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Aller, B.M., Lyth, D.M., Mallak, L.A.: Capstone project team formation: mingling increases performance and motivation. Decis. Sci. J. Innov. Educ. 6(2), 503–507 (2008)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  2. Association of American Colleges and Universities: Fulfilling the American dream: liberal education and the future of work (2018). https://aacu.org/research/2018-future-of-work. Accessed 07 Sept 2021

  3. Bica, D.A.B., da Silva, C.A.G.: Learning process of agile scrum methodology with Lego blocks in interactive academic games: viewpoint of students. IEEE Revista Iberoamericana de Tecnologias del Aprendizaje 15(2), 95–104 (2020)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. Beck, K., et al.: The Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001). http://agilemanifesto.org/. Accessed 25 Aug 2021

  5. Bruegge, B., Reiss, M., Schiller, J.: Agile principles in academic education: a case study. In: 2009 Sixth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations, pp. 1684–1686. IEEE, April 2009

    Google Scholar 

  6. Calefato, F., Ebert, C.: Agile collaboration for distributed teams [software technology]. IEEE Softw. 36(1), 72–78 (2019)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  7. Coates, K.: The value of soft skills: preparing the next generation of workforce for future work (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Cubric, M.: An agile method for teaching agile in business schools. Int. J. Manag. Educ. 11(3), 119–131 (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  9. Ding, D., Yousef, M., Yue, X.: A case study for teaching students agile and scrum in capstone course. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 32(5), 95–101 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fitsilis, P., Lekatos, A.: Teaching software project management using agile paradigm. In: Proceedings of the 21st Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics, pp. 1–6, September 2017

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gandomani, T.J., Zulzalil, H., Ghani, A.A., Sultan, A.B.M., Sharif, K.Y.: How human aspects impress Agile software development transition and adoption. Int. J. Softw. Eng. Appl. 8(1), 129–148 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gandomani, T.J., Faraji, H., Radnejad, M.: Planning Poker in cost estimation in Agile methods: averaging vs. consensus. In: 2019 5th Conference on Knowledge Based Engineering and Innovation (KBEI), pp. 066–071. IEEE, February 2019

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gottipati, S., Shankararaman, V., Gan, S.: A conceptual framework for analyzing students’ feedback. In: 2017 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), pp. 1–8. IEEE, October 2017

    Google Scholar 

  14. Grimheden, M.E.: Can agile methods enhance mechatronics design education? Mechatronics 23(8), 967–973 (2013)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  15. Harding, L.M.: Students of a feather “flocked” together: a group assignment method for reducing freeriding and improving group and individual learning outcomes. J. Mark. Educ. 40(2), 117–127 (2017)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  16. Hof, S., Kropp, M., Landolt, M.: Use of gamification to teach agile values and collaboration: a multi-week scrum simulation project in an undergraduate software engineering course. In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, pp. 323–328, June 2017

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kamat, V., Sardessai, S.: Agile practices in higher education: a case study. In: 2012 Agile India, pp. 48–55. IEEE, February 2012

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kavitha, R.K., Ahmed, M.S.I.: Knowledge sharing through pair programming in learning environments: an empirical study. Educ. Inf. Technol. 20(2), 319–333 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-013-9285-5

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  19. Kumar, S., Ureel, L.C., Wallace, C.: Agile communicators: cognitive apprenticeship to prepare students for communication-intensive software development. In: 2015 Agile Conference, pp. 71–75. IEEE, August 2015

    Google Scholar 

  20. Lang, G.: Agile learning: sprinting through the semester. Inf. Syst. Educ. J. 15(3), 14 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Levy, M., Hadar, I., Aviv, I.: Agile-based education for teaching an agile requirements engineering methodology for knowledge management. Sustainability 13(5), 2853 (2021)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  22. Liu, L.: Using generic inductive approach in qualitative educational research: a case study analysis. J. Educ. Learn. 5(2), 129–135 (2016)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  23. Mahnič, V., Hovelja, T.: On using planning poker for estimating user stories. J. Syst. Softw. 85(9), 2086–2095 (2012)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  24. Mahnic, V.: A capstone course on agile software development using scrum. IEEE Trans. Educ. 55(1), 99–106 (2012)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  25. Marder, B., et al.: ‘Going agile’: exploring the use of project management tools in fostering psychological safety in group work within management discipline courses. Int. J. Manag. Educ. 19(3), 100519 (2021)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  26. Mihalik, J.: Agile approach in higher education-a collaborative research project report. Opus et Educatio 6(4), 470–476 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Milićević, J.M., Filipović, F., Jezdović, I., Naumović, T., Radenković, M.: Scrum agile framework in e-business project management: an approach to teaching scrum. Eur. Proj. Manag. J. 9(1), 52–60 (2019)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  28. Nuottila, J., Aaltonen, K., Kujala, J.: Challenges of adopting agile methods in a public organization. Int. J. Inf. Syst. Proj. Manag. 4(3), 65–85 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  29. O’Shea, M., Frohlich Hougaard, K.: Supporting key competence development: learning approaches and environments in school education. Input Paper (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Parsons, D., MacCallum, K.: Agile education, lean learning. In: Parsons, D., MacCallum, K. (eds.) Agile and Lean Concepts for Teaching and Learning, pp. 3–23. Springer, Singapore (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2751-3_1

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  31. Paasivaara, M., Lassenius, C., Damian, D., Raty, P., Schroter, A.: Teaching students global software engineering skills using distributed scrum. In: Proceedings of 35th International Conference on Software Engineering, May 2013, pp. 1128–1137 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Patacsil, F., Tablatin, C.: Exploring the importance of soft and hard skills as perceived by IT internship students and industry: a gap analysis. J. Technol. Sci. Educ. 7, 347 (2017)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  33. Peha, S.: Agile Schools: How Technology Saves Education (Just Not the Way We Thought It Would) (2011). https://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-schools-education/. Accessed 10 Sept 2021

  34. Poppendieck, M., Poppendieck, T.D.: Implementing lean software development: from concept to cash. Softw. Qual. Prof. 9(3), 45 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Rodriguez, G., Soria, Á., Campo, M.: Virtual scrum: a teaching aid to introduce undergraduate software engineering students to scrum. Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. 23(1), 147–156 (2015)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  36. Rodríguez, G., Soria, Á., Campo, M.: Measuring the impact of agile coaching on students’ performance. IEEE Trans. Educ. 59(3), 202–209 (2016)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  37. Sachdeva, V.: Requirements prioritization in agile: use of planning poker for maximizing return on investment. In: Latifi, S. (ed.) Information Technology – New Generations. AISC, vol. 558, pp. 403–409. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54978-1_53

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  38. Saltz, J., Heckman, R.: Exploring which agile principles students internalize when using a Kanban process methodology. J. Inf. Syst. Educ. 31(1), 51 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Schmitz, K.: A three cohort study of role-play instruction for agile project management. J. Inf. Syst. Educ. 29(2), 93–103 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Sharp, J.H., Mitchell, A., Lang, G.: Agile teaching and learning in information systems education: an analysis and categorization of literature. J. Inf. Syst. Educ. 31(4), 269–281 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Shastri, Y., Hoda, R., Amor, R.: The role of the project manager in agile software development projects. J. Syst. Softw. 173, 110871 (2021)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  42. Shrivastava, S.V.: Distributed agile software development: a review. arXiv preprint arXiv:1006.1955 (2010)

  43. Takai, S., Esterman, M.: Towards a better design team formation: a review of team effectiveness models and possible measurements of design-team inputs, processes, and outputs. In: ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Thomas, D.R.: A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. Am. J. Eval. 27(2), 237–246 (2006)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  45. Yang, J., Zhang, X.L., Su, P.: Deep-learning-based agile teaching framework of software development courses in computer science education. Procedia Comput. Sci. 154, 137–145 (2019)

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  46. Wilkinson, S., Joffe, H., Yardley, L.: Qualitative data collection: interviews and focus groups. In: Marks, D., Yardley, L. (eds.) Research Methods for Clinical and Health Psychology, pp. 39–55. SAGE Publications, London (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Williams, L.A., Kessler, R.R.: All I ever needed to know about pair programming I learned in kindergarten. In: Communications of the ACM. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Thessaly, Gaiopolis Campus, 41500, Larissa, Greece

    Evangeli Boti, Vyron Damasiotis & Panos Fitsilis

  2. School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335, Patras, Greece

    Panos Fitsilis

Authors
  1. Evangeli Boti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vyron Damasiotis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Panos Fitsilis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Panos Fitsilis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia

    Prof. Giancarlo Succi

  2. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Prof. Paolo Ciancarini

  3. Innopolis University, Innopolis, Russia

    Artem Kruglov

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Boti, E., Damasiotis, V., Fitsilis, P. (2021). Skills Development Through Agile Capstone Projects. In: Succi, G., Ciancarini, P., Kruglov, A. (eds) Frontiers in Software Engineering. ICFSE 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1523. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93135-3_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93135-3_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-93134-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-93135-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Search

Navigation