Skills Development Through Agile Capstone Projects

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. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.