A presentation at AgileTour 2012 Ho Chi Minh City, 8-9/11/2012 This is a reflection on how we can innovate higher education in VN with the ideas from Agile.

1. Agile
Education
Reflection from a higher education institution

2. About
• Higher Diploma in Software
Engineering
• ISO + Lean practices
• Agile in Software
Development & Academic
Activities

3. EduCrisis
Image: TuoiTre & LaoDong

4. Our Problems
• Old-fashion teaching &
learning
• School-Industry Gap
• Low Employability
• Low Readiness
• Diversity of students

6. How Values
Agile Curriculum
Help?
Teaching
Management
Measurement

7. Agile Values - Recap
• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
AgileManifesto.org
7

8. We value
Ability of self-directed learning
over measurement and certification;
Agile
That is, while there is value in the items Education
on the right, we value the items on the left
more.

9. Time for New Curriculum
“Agility in software development has
implications for organizational agility. The
shift to agile methods and models signals a
larger transformation in the workplace and
the organization of the 21st century”
Linda Levine, Software Engineering Institute

10. 1. was evolved and is applied in the
industry
10 2. educates for teamwork
Reasons 3. deals with human aspects
for 4. encourages diversity
Agile
5. supports learning processes
6. improves habits of mind
7. emphasizes management skills
Curriculum
8. enhances ethical norms
9. highlights a comprehensive image
of software engineering
10. provides a single teachable
Hazzan & Dubinsky,
Why Software Engineering framework
Programs Should Teach Agile
Software Development

11. Agile Curriculum
• Embedding agile practices to existing courses
– Pair Programming
– TDD
– Simple DesignAgile Modeling
– Refactoring
– Continuous Integration
– User story
– Scrum …
• New full-featured courses: agile developers,
agile software constructiondevelopment, Scrum
foundation, agile coaching, ...
Several empirical researches reported that agile practices foster the learning process
of software development, and results in positive learning outcomes.

12. Teaching Shift

13. NO Meaningless Learning

14. Enrich Learning Experience
Scrum Team & Scrum tool
Meeting Professionals Coding Dojo
Active Learning Building Software

15. Agile Instruction
• “Individuals and interactions” focused
• Maximizing communication
• Just-in-time
– Light-weight adaptive planning (in Scrum way) &
implementation
– Continuous & diversified evaluation
• Short feedback cycles
• Continuous improvement (kaizen)

16. Adaptation
Scrum
Transparency Inspection
Scrum provides an extremely useful framework for
MANAGEMENT

17. Daily Meeting & TaskBoard
These practices help in transparency, team collaboration and efficiency

18. Empower the Team
Functional Hierarchical Teams Cross-functional Self-organizing Team
Command-Control Remove Command-Control culture

19. Measurement
• “Ability of self-directed
learning”
• Rapid and short feedback
lifecycle
• Built-in integrity
• Test-first*

20. • Daily Standup
Really
Good
• Retrospectives
• Backlogs and JIT planning
• ScrumBoard
(taskboardKanban)
Stuffs
• Short Feedback Cycle
:-)
• Value-based
Implementation

21. “Agile development is no silver bullet, but it is useful.
Organizationally, agile delivers value and reduces costs;
technically, it highlights excellence and minimal bugs;
personally, many find it their preferred way to work.”
James Shore
“The Art of Agile Development”
To conclude..

23. BACK UP SLIDES

24. 7
1. Encourages Student-Faculty
Contact
2. Encourages Cooperation
among students
3. Encourages Active Learning Principles
4. Gives Prompt Feedback
5. Emphasizes Time on Task
for
6. Communicates High Best
Expectations Practices
7. Respects Diverse Talents and
Ways of Learning Agile supports these principles
[Chickering and Gamson]

25. • Basic Skills: Reading, Writing, and
Mathematics
• Foundation Skills: Knowing How to Learn
• Communication Skills: Listening and Oral
What
Communication
• Adaptability: Problem Solving and Creative
Thinking
• Group Effectiveness: Interpersonal Skills,
Negotiation, and Teamwork
Employers
Want
• Influence: Organizational Effectiveness and
Leadership
• Personal Management: Self-Esteem and
Motivation/Goal Setting
• Attitude: Cognitive Style
• Applied Skills: Occupational and
Professional Competencies
[ETS, “Standard for what?”]

26. References
1. Chickering, A. W. and Gamson, Z. F. (1989), Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education.
Biochemical Education, 17: 140–141. doi: 10.1016/0307-4412(89)90094-0
2. Educational Testing Services (2003), Standards for What?, The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform
(http://www.learndoearn.org/For-Educators/Standards-for-What.pdf )
3. Hazzan O. and Dubinsky Y. (2007), Why Software Engineering Programs Should Teach Agile Software
Development, SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes, Vol. 32, No. 2. (March 2007), pp. 1-3,
4. Johnston, A.J. & Johnson, C.S. (2010), 'Extreme Programming in the University', Annual International Conference
on Computer Science Education: Innovation and Technology, Phuket, Thailand, December 2010 in Proceedings of
Annual International Conference on Computer Science Education: Innovation and Technology (CSEIT 2010), ed
Anton Ravindran, Global Science and Technology Forum, Singapore, pp. 3-8.
5. Linda Levine (2005), Reflection on Software Agility and Agile Methods: challenges, dilemmas, & the way ahead,
(http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/assets/reflections.pdf )
6. Lu, B, and DeClue T. (2011), Teaching agile methodology in a software engineering capstone course, Journal of
Computing Sciences in Colleges, Volume 26 Issue 5, May 2011, Pages 293-299
7. Maamar, Z. , Issa, G. , Daoud, D. , Turani, A. & Zaroor, M.I. (2011), Incorporating innovative practices in software
engineering education, Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2011 IEEE
8. Melnik G. and Maurer F. (2003), Introducing Agile Methods in Learning Environments: Lessons Learned , Lecture
Notes in Computer Science, 2003, Volume 2753/2003, 172-184, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-45122-8_20
9. Rico D. F. and Sayani H. H. (2009), Use of agile methods in software engineering education, Agile Conference
2009.
10. Soria A., Campo M. R. and Rodriguez G. (2012) ,Improving Software Engineering Teaching by Introducing Agile
Management , 41 JAIIO - ASSE 2012 - ISSN: 1850-2792 - Page 215
11. Steve Peha(2011), Agile Schools: How Technology Saves Education (Just Not the Way We Thought it Would),
InfoQ (http://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-schools-education)

27. Stay Tuned..
Monthly Gathering:
• www.hanoiscrum.net
• www.agilevietnam.org
Online Discussion (En &Vi):
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/hanoiscrum
Dương Trọng Tấn
• tandt@fpt.edu.vn
• https://www.facebook.com/duongtrongtan
• http://vn.linkedin.com/in/tandt