=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_6
|storemode=property
|title=Students' Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management Aimed at
Developing Soft Skills
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_6.pdf
|volume=Vol-2486
|authors=Alix E. Rojas,Camilo Mejı́a-Moncayo
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/icai2/RojasM19
}}
==Students' Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management Aimed at
Developing Soft Skills==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_6.pdf
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course
in Agile Project Management Aimed at
Developing Soft Skills
Alix E. Rojas and Camilo Mejı́a-Moncayo
Universidad EAN, Bogotá, Colombia
{aerojash,cmejiam}@universidadean.edu.co
Abstract. During the last decades, teachers have observed with atten-
tion and interest, but passively, the technology and its use in classrooms;
In times where digital transformation has completely changed our soci-
ety. Teaching-learning methods are evolving in combination with new
technologies, due to the daily use of the technology to which students
are immersed. And traditional educational environments are no longer
enough for students to develop a set of necessary skills in a global, com-
plex, and highly competitive environment. While the technical capabili-
ties of professionals are valued in the industry, social skills are a differ-
entiating aspect that organizations demand today. Understanding and
working under a framework like Scrum, whose philosophy is raised on
values and principles oriented towards teamwork, becomes essential. We
presented the general design of an elective course of the Specialization in
Technological Management program of the Faculty of Engineering. The
primary competence was the comprehension of the Scrum framework
from a project management perspective. The course design was based on
promoting the Scrum pillars and values through teamwork, continuous
feedback, and using some gadgets to stimulate students’ participation.
Finally, we show the results obtained from the survey applied to stu-
dents when they finished the course. We also discuss opportunities for
improvement, and conclusions of the process.
Keywords: Education Technology · Gadgets · Soft Skills · Agile Project
Management
1 Introduction
In the contemporary world, the development of projects is a common practice in
different fields since it allows to reach the proposed objectives with higher quality
in complex scenarios [26]. Scrum Initially, it focused on software development,
but because it accelerates the productivity of work teams thanks to its ability
to overcome difficulties quickly, it has become an essential tool for any manager.
And one of the main reasons for agile adoption in organizations was to improve
team collaboration and increase software quality and customer satisfaction [7,22].
Copyright c 2019 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
2019 ICAI Workshops, pp. 194–204, 2019.
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management 195
Good practices help team members to maintain the workflow. A typical scenario
in projects is that a member of the team loses focus of their work, either because
they focus too much on the details or because they have distractions that affect
their work, the practices suggested in Scrum promote that this type of situations
does make [23].
Once this new boom was detected in the way the projects are managed, the
elective course was proposed. Through the professional elective courses, the fac-
ulty has the possibility of generating updated and booming content pertinent to
the academic program. Through this document, we present the guidelines that
were taken into account for the design of the elective specialization course fol-
lowing the University educational model [4, 9].
2 Background and Course Content
In February 2001, seventeen people met in Snowbird (Utah, USA) to discuss
an emerging trend called light processes. As a starting point and fundamental
basis of agile methodologies, the agile manifesto was drafted and published.
The manifesto emphasizes four central values that software development must
support [14]:
“We are discovering better ways to develop the software, doing it and help-
ing others to do it. Through this work we have come to appreciate: Individuals
and interactions about processes and tools. The software runs on extensive doc-
umentation. Collaboration with the client on contractual negotiation. Response
to the change about following a plan. That is, although we value the elements
on the right, we value more those on the left.”
This manifesto involved agile pioneers who defined their agile methodologies:
Scrum, Method of Development of Dynamic Systems (DSDM), Design Method-
ology Constructor (CDM), Crystal Clear, Kanban, XP, among others [14]. Ken
Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland formally defined Scrum for two reasons. The first
one because it is an agile model oriented to the management of projects in gen-
eral (not only to software development projects), and the second because it is
an easy model to understand. The challenge was to ensure that students during
the elective course understood the values and principles required to implement
these types of models.
The creators of Scrum define it as a framework in which teams of profes-
sionals can address complex and adaptive problems while delivering products
of the highest possible value, productively and creatively. Scrum is also easy
and lightweight, as summarized in Fig.1. This framework defines three princi-
ples that support the implementation of empirical process control: transparency,
inspection, and adaptation. The first mentioned principle refers to the visibility
of the status of the process and all relevant aspects for Scrum users. The second
is about the shared and detailed review that each member does to obtain qual-
ity. And the third refers to the process of making incremental and systematic
changes based on the consensus of the team [23].
196 A. Rojas et al.
A Scrum Team consists of three roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, and
Development Team. The Scrum Master (SM) is the person who knows the most
about Scrum, is a facilitator who removes obstacles and who is in charge of
guiding the Scrum Team under the framework of work. The Product Owner
(PO) is the representative of the client, so it is the interface between the client
and the Development Team. He is empowered to make decisions and on his/her
shoulders is the success of the product or not. The Development Team (DT) is
responsible for constructing the solution based on the requirements stated by
the PO. It works autonomously, so it has bargaining power [23]. Fig.1 resumes
the Scrum Framework, and it allows us to visualize the subject of the course.
Fig. 1. The Scrum framework: The course subject-matter
Scrum explicitly defines five fundamental values that professionals must as-
similate and experience for the principles of the framework to materialize and
generate a work environment based on trust and collaboration between people.
These values are commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. One of the
biggest challenges to master Scrum is that the development teams are really a
team, and the organization empowers them so that over time, they self-manage.
3 The Proposed Course
The Department of Systems Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering enriches
and updates the curricula with professional electives that provide students with
specific competencies of their profession. The market that is governed by the
principles of project management has given a glance to agile models that ener-
gize the work of the teams, and even more that keep them motivated [20]. We
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management 197
design a course to students can experiment Scrum framework through its values,
principles, and practices; reinforcing in each iteration the basics of agile models.
Since the philosophy of a competencies-based education should be oriented in
the design of learning activities, that means experiences that allow the content to
be addressed by the need generated by the event, instead of guiding the courses
to the content teacher [9]. The course was designed focused on a pedagogical
strategy based on continuous feedback between peers, teamwork, and support of
educational tools such as role-play clicker evaluation, and classroom project. All
this, to allow graduate students to have a space to work in a team, perform with
a particular role and follow up on their project are pedagogical activities that
enrich their learning. The course configuration was designed for five sessions of
8 hours.
3.1 Pedagogical strategies and their inclusion in the classroom
The pedagogical strategies are the actions carried out by a teacher to facilitate
the training and learning of specific competencies in students [17]. For the design
of the elective course, a set of activities were critically chosen to reinforce the
nuclear competence, orienting significant actions that will give the students the
ability to identify and experience the selected agile model [16,17,20]. During the
learning process, different techniques and teaching methods were used to achieve
a common goal: a high level of education in the processes of training students at
the university level. Below are the pedagogical strategies that framed the design
of the elective course.
Continuous feedback Feedback is a process that helps provide information
to students about the competencies they develop: about what they know, do,
and how they act. The feedback allows us to describe the thinking, feeling, and
working of the students in their environment and therefore enable them to know
how their performance is and how it can be improved in the future [17].
Feedback is an integral part of formative assessment as it provides crucial
information to make adjustments in the teaching-learning process for students
to achieve the proposed objectives. It emphasizes the need to be aware of the
competencies of students for giving them specific answers, and motivate them,
so they continue in the process [10, 17]. Feedback is a way to support student
learning, providing guidelines to help them bridge the gap between their current
and their desired levels [2].
This is why the feedback process must be: (1) immediate, (2) continuous, and
(3) relevant. By relevant feedback, it is understood that the comments given to
students allow them to know where they are, what they need, and what they
have to do to achieve their learning goals. The feedback process should support
the learning process since its performance in each of the development areas will
depend on this [10].
198 A. Rojas et al.
Teamwork It is a model that articulates the work activities of a social group
around a set of goals and results to achieve. This concept implies an active
interdependence between the members of a group that shares and assume a
work mission [13]. It promotes interaction, collaboration, and solidarity among
members, as well as negotiation to reach agreements and deal with possible
conflicts [12]. Another benefit is that teamwork teaches you how to have inter-
personal skills. Working with others to coordinate schedules, meet deadlines,
and make decisions will strengthen your relational interactions. A team can also
improve the outcome of a project because you can take advantage of each one’s
unique strengths. The emotional support offered by the members of the group,
is an additional benefit [13].
Other essential teamwork skills include emotional intelligence, active listen-
ing, adaptability, collaboration, conflict resolution, and commitment. You may
have all the technical knowledge and skills in the world, but not being willing and
able to cooperate with your co-workers can be a red flag for an employer [5,12,26].
Educational Tools Within the activities planned for the course, specific ped-
agogical techniques were included to reinforce the competence that was raised
from the beginning (see Table 1).
* The photographic evidence was something that was implemented in other
courses and that brought positive results. It was included as a pedagogical tech-
nique by the same dynamic that was sought to create within the elective course.
4 Results and Discussion
As part of the quality system, the University surveys students to evaluate all
courses. The objective of this is to collect the data as an instrument to measure
the level of acceptance of students by asking the extent to which they agree or
disagree with a particular statement related to the development of the course.
Given the above, we used the perception of the students (collected in the survey)
to try to measure how different pedagogical elements influenced the class.
The teaching evaluation is applied through a web portal which, is supplied by
The University. Different aspects of the course as methodology, theoretical and
practical contents, technical tools, are evaluated, and a quantitative assessment
is calculated on a scale between 0 and 100 points. It is expected results above
80 points; otherwise, a teacher improvement plan will be made.
The data collection process was carried out for two weeks. We had a medium
response rate of 68,4% in the first survey, and 47,4% in the second one. That
means thirteen and nine valid questionnaires of a total of nineteen enrolled stu-
dents, respectively. The descriptive statistics of the applied surveys are presented
in Table 2. There was a total of twenty-one questions in the questionnaire re-
stricted to a range of 1 to 5 (in Likert scale), corresponding to five categories:
Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree Nor disagree, Agree, and Strongly
Agree.
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management 199
Table 1. Didactic Elements and Gadgets included in the course
Element Description Justification
One or more students play This technique is useful to
a certain role, and this manage scenarios in which it
Role-play implies, students assume is necessary to take different
the responsibilities positions to improve their
related to it. understanding [18].
The use of apps in the
It is a consensus-based,
classroom combined with
and gamified technique,
gamification is one of the
Scrum Poker used mostly for estimating
most effective way to engage
effort or relative size of
students in their own
user stories. [22].
learning process [8, 19, 24].
They are devices that
Increase student participation,
allow to obtain information
Evaluation their attention and interest
from the audience in a
with clickers during the class.
quick and simple way [25].
and Socrative It provides immediate
It consists of an emitter
feedback [21].
(clicker) and a receiver [15]
As a learning strategy,
The project is a learning
it helps to relate contents.
strategy that articulates
Classroom It puts into practice what has
the theory and the practice
Project been learned up to that
during the training process
moment and reinforce all other
of professionals [13].
pedagogical techniques [17].
When done after a group
It is that technique that work to explain how they
consists mainly in the oral were organized, what they
Exposition
presentation of a topic. did and how they felt;
On
Its purpose is ”to transmit facilitates individual and
YouTube
information” about a topic, group feedback. It encourages
promoting understanding. discussion and understanding
of a topic [1, 9].
It forces them to know
Photographs are taken
each other and break the
Group picture* during the course and at
ice. It generates stronger
With the end of a team activity.
bonds, because they must
Camera phone All team members must
pose together and show the
appear in the photographs.
work done.
Among the twenty-one questions, variables 1, 2, 3, 17, 19 were used to collect
data of class agreements and clear rules. Variables 4 and 21 try to measure if
students feel that they acquire the competence. Variables 5, 6, 13, 16 try to
measure the perception of soft skills development, such as communication and
leadership. Variable 15 is the perception of the relevant use of technological
tools and devices. The variable 18 tries to measure the perception regarding
the feedback given in class. The variable 20 attempts to measure the perception
200 A. Rojas et al.
of the success of teamwork. And the other variables measure the perception of
acquired hard skills.
To analyze these responses which are restricted to a 5-point Likert scale, The
average value of 3 implies a neutral position for a specific variable of the survey.
Therefore, the average value of less than 3 for any question implies that question
is oriented in the ”disagree” perception, and greater than equal to 4 is oriented in
”agree” perception. However, we cannot conclude whether the students improve
their soft skills with the course.
Table 1 shows the questions that make up the survey applied to the students
of the University and the average obtained in each item. For this particular
course, 13 of the 19 students enrolled in the class were surveyed, with an appli-
cation rate of 68.4%.
Table 2 shows the summary of the application of the evaluation of the elective
course by the students of the first 2 courses offered in the academic program in
the Faculty of Engineering for specialization programs in the area of project
management.
When we graph the results obtained from the twice offered by the Scrum
course, we got the curve shown in Fig.1. In the results obtained in the second
application of 2016-M8, it can be observed in Fig.1 that the average increase
slightly concerning the values obtained in the first application made in the period
2016-1 M2.
Fig. 2. Results of two teaching evaluations
The number of students enrolled in the 2016-2 M8 period is equal to 2016-2
M8, but the application percentage was lower in the second period. Fig.2 com-
paratively shows the results of the two periods: the upper graph shows the first
measurement of perception, and the lower graph, the measurement of the fol-
lowing period. The horizontal axis represents the variables that were included in
the survey, and the vertical axis shows the average value of the students’ percep-
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management 201
Table 2. Questions asked in the survey
Variables Questions
I understood that this unit of study is important for my
1
professional training
I was able to recognize the skills that I had to develop in
2
this course
I agreed with the academic commitments that I had to
3
assume
4 I identify new knowledge and concepts
The teacher encouraged discussion and reflection on
5
different topics
I was able to establish different opinions regarding theories
6
and models
I could understand, analyze, compare, and explain different
7 kinds of resources (documents, graphics, cases, audiovisual
and technological, among others)
I was able to support orally and in writing, as a means of
8
argumentation and critical reasoning.
In class, I searched, collected and analyzed information
9
for troubleshooting
The teacher allowed me to demonstrate results in
evaluative tests such as questionnaires, comprehensive
10
reading, summaries, use of mental maps, interpretation
of cases; among other learning strategies.
The teacher made possible the use of argumentation,
through the use of debate, review, criticism, essay,
11
business intervention, analysis from cases; among other
learning activities.
The teacher generated new approaches, results and
12 innovative proposals, through the construction of projects
and new products
The teacher stimulated my entrepreneurial and
13
entrepreneurial attitude.
The teacher encouraged my critical and analytical
14
thinking
15 The teacher used technological tools for my training
The professor promoted reflection against ethical
16
dilemmas
The teacher acted consistently with the agreements
17
established
The teacher checked the learning processes in a timely
18
manner and fed them back
19 The teacher had good relations with the students
The teacher generated various participation spaces for
20
group work
I consider that I developed the competencies raised in
21
this course
202 A. Rojas et al.
Table 3. Results of two periods
2016-1 M2 2016-2 M8
Average 86.81 93.52
Surveyed 13 9
Enrolled 19 19
Application 68.4% 47.4%
tion in each question. We can see the results for both, the first and the second
evaluation, the highest score (above 90 points) is for teamwork (variable 20),
the appropriate use of technological tools (variable 15), and the development
of communication skills (variable 5). The exciting thing is that we made some
adjustments in the course between one period and the next; For example, regu-
lating the time of each activity, changing the order of some events, and making
the teacher more strict in his role as moderator, resulted in the perception of
variables of interest such as 13, 16 and 18 increased.
5 Conclusions
In the region, the adoption of standards and good practices for the management
of projects is getting stronger; for that reason, the elective course for graduate
students is oriented towards the use of the Scrum framework. It proposes to
take advantage of the teamwork and application of soft skills, and that can
be developed even while applying another standard or methodology of work in
projects.
Nowadays, professionals want to be certified because a certificate offers an
endorsement from the entity that issues it. In the labor field, this is the way you
guarantee that you have specific knowledge or skill. However, a certification of a
role in Scrum does not guarantee that a professional has the soft skills that are
required, but it surely assures that he/she knows the Scrum framework and role
functions.
When comparing the results of the two evaluations, the importance of main-
taining a continuous improvement which requires updates in thematic contents,
the strategies, and learning activities is ratified. This update considers the re-
sults of the students’ feedback, and teachers committee criteria to guarantee the
quality and development of competencies defined in the syllabus of the elective
course.
For future work, it is expected to be able to include more technology that
stimulates interaction between students and the engagement with their learning,
as evidenced in projects such as [3, 18, 24]. However, the big challenge is to
measure not only the students’ perception but also really evaluate the skills
they develop, as Oriol suggests [17].
Students’ Perception of a Postgraduate Course in Agile Project Management 203
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