Undergraduate Groupwork Revisited: the Use of the Scrum Model to Create Agile Learning Environments

The present paper aims to analyse the impact of an innovative teaching model in the learning outcomes of a group of undergraduate students at the University of Malaga (Spain). Based on agile scrum models adopted in the engineering industry, the authors have extraposed the scrum methodology to pedagogical contexts at university level. This paper describes the impact of the innovative Scrum model in relation to groupwork management in undergraduate education. The already existing communication problems when working in group yield slow cooperation among group members and therefore, poorer learning outcomes. Such communication deficiency can be alleviated with the introduction of short and frequent meetings in each group of 4-5 members so that learning objectives are short-termed and attainable. The scrum model offers the procedural framework where to insert those frequent meetings and where all group members can cooperate in long-term projects. In our revision of groupwork under the Scrum approach, we propose to divide a given long-term project into several shorter tasks (labelled as Sprints according to Scrum terminology). During each task development, students perform a certain role within their groups that facilitate interpersonal communication [What did you do yesterday? What are you doing now? What is your next step?, regarding the present task]. Results show that group members learn to monitor themselves, become more autonomous and creative, and improve their interaction inside a heterogeneous group of people. Especially these three latter skills will be widely required when they graduate. Finally, evaluation and assessment were undertaken by means of an e-Portfolio that students generated throughout the process. In this manner, the evaluation process was also made more dynamic and agile since the teacher was revising students' work on a continuous basis, having the opportunity of providing feedback during the project. An important part in this assessment procedure is the time students do use to reflect and self-evaluate themselves and the whole process.