Teaching Agile Software Engineering Using Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

Many studies have reported the utilization of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in teaching Software Engineering courses. However, these studies have different views of the effectiveness of PBL. This paper presents the design of an Advanced Software Engineering course for undergraduate Software Engineering students that uses PBL to teach them Agile software development methods- particularly Scrum. The course also aims to develop entrepreneurial skills needed for software engineering graduates to better prepare them for the software industry. The assessment process designed for this course is illustrated. The paper shows that Scrum practices correlate with the characteristics of the PBL approach, which has resulted in a successful experience of PBL as reported by students in an end of a semester survey.

Agile practices and the promotion of entrepreneurial skills in software development

“…The study of Raffa and Zollo related entrepreneurial skills with the innovative capacity of small software companies, while Crawford et al emphasize the entrepreneurial skills in a study about incorporating an entrepreneurship concentration into the undergraduate information technology curriculum. Additionally, El‐Khalili, Read et al, and Zaina and Álvaro mention entrepreneurial skills in software engineering.…”

“…The practice of entrepreneurship in software is of interest for agile development teaching and academic research. That interest may be seen in works such as El‐Khalili, Read et al, and Zaina and Álvaro …”

“…The practice of entrepreneurship in software is of interest for agile development teaching and academic research. That interest may be seen in works such as El-Khalili, 30 Read et al, 31 and Zaina and Álvaro. 32 Future research may discover how the existing entrepreneurship programs in higher education in technology are related to the context of the software market.…”

An Interdisciplinary Capstone Design Experience on Critical Embedded Systems using Agile Methods

“…Numerous recent articles focus on Agile practices in education, e.g., [15,10,17,2], which indicates the will and the need to teach students this methodology, especially in Computer Science and Information Technology. These articles show that the use of Agile methods in educational activities has very positive effects.…”

An Experience Report at Teaching a Group Based Agile Software Development Project Course

“…El-Khalili [10] propose teaching Agile software development using problem-based learning. The findings of their case study showed that students developed entrepreneurial skills better than traditional methods based on surveys.…”