{"id":702,"date":"2013-03-16T15:49:29","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T15:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=702"},"modified":"2013-03-16T15:49:29","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T15:49:29","slug":"creating-authentic-learning-environments-using-project-based-learning-and-scrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/creating-authentic-learning-environments-using-project-based-learning-and-scrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Authentic Learning Environments using Project Based Learning and Scrum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fcreating-authentic-learning-environments-using-project-based-learning-and-scrum%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/huddle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-703\" title=\"huddle\" src=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/huddle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/huddle.jpg 500w, https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/huddle-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a leader for a software development team, I really enjoy seeing our team members teach each other.\u00a0\u00a0 Because I value education, I personally want to understand how various leadership practices foster learning.\u00a0\u00a0 On our team, we have decided to implement an agile project management style known as Scrum.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seeing my project teams learn, grow, and recover from mistakes every two weeks, I started to wonder if Scrum has been employed in academia in project based learning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are the motivations for using Scrum?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Through a quick google search, I discovered <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elon.edu\/docs\/e-web\/academics\/teaching\/popeRuarkCatlScholars.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark<\/a>, a professional writing and rhetoric professor at Elon University.\u00a0\u00a0 Since group work is very common in higher-education, she started experimenting with Scrum to improve team cultures in her class.\u00a0\u00a0 In her online reflection, she outlines some of her motivations for using Scrum while teaching her students:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She wanted to create a learning environment that is authentic.<\/li>\n<li>Students should learn to facilitate collaboration effectively.<\/li>\n<li>Students should learn a sense of accountability.<\/li>\n<li>When student teams \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d project work without Scrum, she found that her students would produce \u201cdisjointed and repetitive final papers.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Student teams should hold each other accountable to avoid plagiarism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What\u2019s Scrum?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Scrum is a team leadership framework popular in software development.\u00a0\u00a0 The framework, however, can be used in any situation where a complex and creative product needs to be created.\u00a0\u00a0 The framework involves three core roles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Product owner<\/strong>:\u00a0 This team member controls the requirements of the project and the order in which those requirements need to be addressed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Team<\/strong>:\u00a0 This is the group of people (i.e. students) who need to serve the product owner and make the project.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scrum master<\/strong>:\u00a0 This stakeholder acts as a coach for the product owner and team members to help enforce the rules of the scrum framework.\u00a0\u00a0 The scrum master is also responsible for removing road blocks or external impediments of project work.\u00a0\u00a0 If students need access to a tool to accomplish a task, the scrum master is accountable to resolve the impediment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">How does it work?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Iteration sizes or sprints are strictly time-boxed.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0On my team, we use two week iterations.\u00a0\u00a0 In other contexts, an iteration size might be one month.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Throughout this process, the scrum master helps to enforce the following rules while fostering communication and removing blocks.\u00a0 For each sprint or iteration, the following activities occur:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Product backog management: <\/strong>Product owner drafts requirements or stories of what makes the product great.\u00a0\u00a0 This list of requirements is known as the product backlog.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0In a education context, the professor often assumes the role of product owner.\u00a0\u00a0 This gives the teacher the ability to define the \u201cdone conditions\u201d for the learning experience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sprint planning:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 The product owner and team meet to determine what part of the requirements can be built during the iteration.\u00a0\u00a0 The stakeholders negotiate what sub-set of the product backlog can be addressed to create a minimum viable product or an increment of value.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Work, work, work:<\/strong>During the middle of the iteration, the team is free to self-organize to build the product increment.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a classroom situation, the students may design, create, peer review, and test their product.\u00a0 Each day of the project, the team should have a quick huddle (15 minutes) to answer the following questions.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s important to remember that the students are accountable to each other during these quick huddles.\n<ol>\n<li>What did I do yesterday?<\/li>\n<li>What work is blocked?<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s next for work?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Demo day:<\/strong> This is a \u201cshow and tell\u201d day.\u00a0\u00a0 On the last day of the iteration, the product increment is shown to the product owner.\u00a0\u00a0 The team and product owner collectively review the strengths and improvement opportunities for the product.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Retrospective:<\/strong>\u00a0 On the \u201cdemo day\u201d, the students\/team members should have a quick meeting to reflect upon how they can improve.\u00a0\u00a0 (30 minute meeting)\n<ol>\n<li>What went well?<\/li>\n<li>What do we need to change in our process to improve our team and product?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>If there is more product to build, go back to step #1.<\/li>\n<li>Party time!\u00a0 Project is done!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For a detailed summary of the Scrum framework, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scrum.org\/Scrum-Guides\">http:\/\/www.scrum.org\/Scrum-Guides<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XU0llRltyFM\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>How effective is Scrum in teaching?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In future blog entries, I would like to follow up with Dr. <a href=\"http:\/\/drrebeccapoperuark.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rebecca Pope-Ruark<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 She mentioned that she would be doing a formal research project regarding the effectiveness of Scrum in the classroom. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Paul Gestwicki, a computer science professor teaching game development and Android programming, shares his reflections of using Scrum in his classes.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/paulgestwicki.blogspot.com\/#uds-search-results\" target=\"_blank\">On his blog<\/a> he shares that \u201cI am taking a significant risk by trusting my students to effectively self-organize and deliver the promised software system.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0He, however, seems to have <a href=\"http:\/\/paulgestwicki.blogspot.com\/#uds-search-results\" target=\"_blank\">some positive results to share<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In drafting this post, I am excited to see the strengths, weaknesses and learning outcomes from this style of teaching.\u00a0\u00a0 Since the students are encouraged to organize themselves, the process of Scrum helps to foster creativity and critical thinking.\u00a0\u00a0 I have personally enjoyed seeing the spirit of collaboration on my team.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s always cool to see team members teaching each other.<\/p>\n<p>When \u201cno brain works alone\u201d, cool stuff happens!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s keep the conversation going:\u00a0\u00a0 I would love to hear your stories about project based learning.\u00a0 What is your favorite aspect of project based learning or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flatclassroomproject.org\/About\" target=\"_blank\">flat classroom learning<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Related blog posts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"5 ways to get more results in your teaching environment.\" href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=246\">5 ways to get more results in your teaching environment.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"How is Scrum leadership evolving?\" href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=333\">How is Scrum leadership evolving?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"How do you do more with less?\" href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=235\">How do you do more with less?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Engaging my students by the mission of clean water\" href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=117\">Engaging my students by the mission of clean water<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Teaching like a game designer\" href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=500\">Teaching like a game designer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo taken from\u00a0http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/2\/21\/Trojans_in_huddle_at_USC_at_Cal_2009-10-03_1.JPG<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Fcreating-authentic-learning-environments-using-project-based-learning-and-scrum%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a leader for a software development team, I really enjoy seeing our team members teach each other.\u00a0\u00a0 Because I value education, I personally want to understand how various leadership practices foster learning.\u00a0\u00a0 On our team, we have decided to implement an agile project management style known as Scrum.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seeing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":704,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}