Self-organized teams of English Studies undergraduates working in an agile environment based on scrum methodology

Based on the experience of one of the authors in private companies, we present here a novel agile technique of work called scrum methodology that has been adapted to a third-course class of English Studies Degree in the University of Málaga. Three main objectives were established: the adaptation of that scrum methodology to the academic world, especially to those disciplines not considered a priori to have a direct relationship with the business world; secondly, the promotion of different values as: self-organization, autonomy, communication, self-knowledge and knowledge of mates’ potentialities; and thirdly, students themselves must actively build their knowledge by working in realistic scenarios. The scrum methodology employed to that end is an adaption of the project-based learning (PBL) with which students actively explore real-world problems. In our proposal, students decide by consensus what, when and how to work. The topic of the project is given by the professor, allowing students to organize themselves with freedom of actions. It is based on a sequence of various stand-up meetings per week and partial deliveries reviewed by the professor, whose comments are a valuable feedback for the students. Finally, a process of selfreflection accomplished by the undergraduates is required. After the application of that technique, promising results were obtained observing an increasing implication of students and a deeper knowledge of the subject contents and its future relevance in the real world. As a conclusion, we think it is completely necessary to bridge the gap between academia and business world, transferring knowledge from one to another indistinguishably.