Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Agile Mindset Adoption in Student Team Projects

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering (ENASE 2021)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1556))

  • 556 Accesses

Abstract

Developing and maintaining complex software systems requires both technical expertise as well as soft skills such as teamwork and good communication abilities. These become even more important as the size and geographical distribution of teams grow. The adoption of Agile development methodologies further emphasizes interaction, collaboration and adaptability to change, all with the purpose of prioritizing working software. Organizations of higher education have acknowledged this by incorporating capstone or team projects as part of their curricula. Our exploratory study reports the experience of 47 teams of 3rd year Computer Science students, each tasked with developing a medium-sized software application as part of a Team Project course. We focus our work on the issues reported by student teams planning to take up Agile values and practices. We report the most important challenges faced during application development and present them from both the students’ and their mentors’ perspectives. We show that soft skills remain an important component of adopting an Agile mindset when teaching collaborative software engineering. We provide an open source replication package that allows repeating or extending our investigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • 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

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ahmed, F., Capretz, L.F., Bouktif, S., Campbell, P.: Soft skills and software development: a reflection from software industry. J. Inf. Process. Manag. 4(3), 171–191 (2013). https://doi.org/10.4156/ijipm.vol4.issue3.17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A.O.: Agile manifesto (2001). https://agilemanifesto.org

  3. Buffardi, K., Robb, C., Rahn, D.: Learning agile with tech startup software engineering projects. In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, ITiCSE 2017, pp. 28–33. ACM (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Corbin, J., Strauss, A.: Basics of Qualitative Research. Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. 4th edn. SAGE Publications (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Delgado, D., Velasco, A., Aponte, J., Marcus, A.: Evolving a project-based software engineering course: a case study. In: 2017 IEEE 30th CSEE&T, pp. 77–86 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/CSEET.2017.22

  6. Glaser, B., Strauss, A.: The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Sociology Press, Mill Valley (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heberle, A., Neumann, R., Stengel, I., Regier, S.: Teaching agile principles and software engineering concepts through real-life projects. In: 2018 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), pp. 1723–1728 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON.2018.8363442

  8. Iacob, C., Faily, S.: Exploring the gap between the student expectations and the reality of teamwork in undergraduate software engineering group projects. J. Syst. Softw. 157, 110393 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2019.110393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ju, A., Hemani, A., Dimitriadis, Y., Fox, A.: What agile processes should we use in software engineering course projects? In: Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, pp. 643–649. ACM (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3328778.3366864

  10. Kropp, M., Meier, A.: Teaching agile software development at university level: values, management, and craftsmanship, pp. 179–188, May 2013. https://doi.org/10.1109/CSEET.2013.6595249

  11. Masood, Z., Hoda, R., Blincoe, K.: Adapting agile practices in university contexts. J. Syst. Softw. 144, 501–510 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Motogna, S., Suciu, D.M., Molnar, A.J.: Replication data set, January 2021. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13636445

  13. Motogna., S., Suciu., D., Molnar., A.: Investigating student insight in software engineering team projects. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - ENASE, pp. 362–371. INSTICC, SciTePress (2021). https://doi.org/10.5220/0010478803620371

  14. Runeson, P., Host, M., Rainer, A., Regnell, B.: Case Study Research in Software Engineering: Guidelines and Examples, 1st edn. Wiley Publishing, Hoboken (2012)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Solingen, R., Basili Vic, C.G., Rombach, D.: Goal Question Metric Approach. Encyclopedia of Software Engineering, Wiley, Hoboken (2002)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Ville, I., Daniels, M.: Searching for global employability: can students capitalize on enabling learning environments? ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 19(2), 1–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3277568

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Simona Motogna, Dan Mircea Suciu & Arthur-Jozsef Molnar

Authors
  1. Simona Motogna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dan Mircea Suciu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arthur-Jozsef Molnar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arthur-Jozsef Molnar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

    Raian Ali

  2. TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

    Hermann Kaindl

  3. Wrocław University of Economics, Wrocław, Poland

    Leszek A. Maciaszek

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Motogna, S., Suciu, D.M., Molnar, AJ. (2022). Agile Mindset Adoption in Student Team Projects. In: Ali, R., Kaindl, H., Maciaszek, L.A. (eds) Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering. ENASE 2021. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1556. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96648-5_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96648-5_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96647-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96648-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation