Agile learning

Under agile learning is generally the adaptation of agile values, principles and methods of project work, especially Scrum , understood in learning processes. Leading here are z. B. Values ​​such as self-organization and personal responsibility of the learners, as they are also explained in the Manifesto for agile software development. The teachers tend to have the role of a learning companion or supporter. In a narrower sense, this should enable learner-centered, action-competence-oriented and media-supported learning in the work process within companies. In a broader sense, “agile learning” can be understood as the transfer of an “agile mindset” to educational work, which can result in implementation in different methodologies.

background

Under Scrum a process model of the project and product management is understood, in particular for agile software development . It was developed from the experience that many development projects are too complex to be put into a comprehensive plan and that a substantial part of the requirements and the solution approaches are unclear at the beginning. In order to eliminate these ambiguities, intermediate results are worked in stages with which missing requirements and the next steps can be found efficiently. The basic principle of Scrum are short development steps - so-called "sprints" - with clear objectives and regular feedback loops. At the beginning of a project phase, goals are defined in "Sprint Planning" and tasks are derived and prioritized from them. The entire team then gets to work on these tasks - everyone works independently. Interim results are presented and problems discussed on a daily basis. At the end of a “sprint”, the result, process and cooperation are reflected on - and a new interval begins.

procedure

Each phase is first planned before the team starts implementing it. Two questions are answered in this planning:

• What should / can be learned in the next phase?
• How will this be implemented in the next phase?

Phases in agile learning

After the results from the processing of the topics are available, the learning team receives feedback from coaches and clients and reflects in a retrospective on the technical results and the joint process leading to it. This in turn gives impulses for the next phase.

Agile learning in different domains

economy

conditions

The Scrum process model can be easily adapted to the requirements of companies for dynamic, workplace-integrated competence development. So increases z. For example, the digital turnaround, among other things in the context of Industry 4.0, the frequency and intensity with which employees have to undergo further training and acquire new skills. Such learning environments and learning processes have the following requirements:

• High scalability to make qualification measures possible to a very different extent, from a few hours to several hundred;

• Content adaptability in order to be able to take up new topics as quickly as possible and not be tied to a fixed canon of topics;

• Structural connectivity of the concept to already established process models, organizational structures and existing software infrastructure in order to achieve the highest possible acceptance and implementation breadth.

Up to now, however, there have hardly been any suitable training formats for this need, since classic forms of qualification (e.g. seminar courses, further training courses) do not fit the individual skills requirements exactly enough and also react too slowly to the dynamics of change in companies. One answer to this is the agile learning approach with its flexibility in relation to all three of the above requirements. Analogous to Scrum and current as well as established psychological findings for effective goal pursuit (Gollwitzer & Oettingen, 2012), an extensive (learning) process is divided into individual, manageable learning phases in agile learning. The three pillars of transparency, review, and adaptation also apply here. Similarly to Scrum, three roles can be described, but they have slightly different tasks in agile learning.

Roles in agile learning

Client ("Product Owner")

• Defines the field of study and determines a suitable project
• Creates the organizational framework
• Is the mediator in the organization
• Decreases the professional learning progress

Coaches ("Scrum Master")

• Technical, didactic and methodological support
• Moderate the process and guide the reflection
• Support in processing the learning objectives

This role usually has to be filled several times, possibly supplemented by a topic-specific team of experts

• Personal development goals in sprints
• Collaborative, mostly digitally supported collaboration
• Regular joint reflection on the learning process
• Personal, social and professional development

(see Longmuß, Grantz, & Höhne, 2017)

Agile learning can be adapted to the individual, to groups (e.g. classes, teams, departments) and to larger contexts. Some approaches suggest assigning "ownership of learning" to the learners on an individual level. With the support of a learning coach, you then independently define your learning goals and design your own learning process (e.g. the choice of learning formats, collaborative learning, learning materials). At the same time, there are approaches at team level in which the Scrum Master of a self-organized team also takes on the role of a learning coach and thus integrates learning topics into day-to-day work.

school

The implementation of agile learning in schools is already well defined by the organizationally regulated binding nature and regularity of the meetings. In contrast to classic teaching concepts, however, the focus is on project-oriented and collaborative teaching.

university

“In agile teaching and learning, the students take on the role of the customer; the agile software development process, in which the customers are involved, is replaced by the learning / teaching process with students and teachers as actors; the increments that realize new functionality in short cycles correspond to the continuous increase in skills of the students in the agile learning / teaching process. ”(Meissner & Stenger, 2014) The transfer of agile methods to teaching can be defined as follows:“ With regard to These ideas should be transferred analogously to teaching, with the customer interpreting it as a learner in a university or professional project environment. As a synthesis of agile method and teaching, the approach is therefore called agile teaching. " (Fahsel 2016)

literature

• PM Gollwitzer, G. Oettingen: Goal pursuit. In: RM Ryan (Ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation. Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-539982-0 , pp. 208-231.
• J. Longmuß, T. Grantz, B. Höhne: Media-based work and learning projects as an instrument for company competence development. In: D. Ahrens, G. Molzberger (Hrsg.): Competence development in analog and digitized working environments - design of social, organizational and technological innovations. Springer, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-662-54955-1 .
• B. Meissner, H.-J. Stenger: Agile learning with just-in-time teaching. In: O. Zawacki-Richter (Ed.): Teaching Trends 2014: Open to New Paths: Digital Media in the University. Waxmann, Münster 2015, ISBN 978-3-8309-3170-6 . (Full text)
• Vera Gehlen-Baum, Manuel Illi: Learn what you want !: Agile learning for future-oriented companies . BOD, Norderstedt 2019, ISBN 978-3-7494-6321-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1] . Agile Manifesto . Retrieved May 26, 2020.
2. ↑ agile learning . Retrieved February 9, 2017.
3. ↑ Agile, learning, series, agile learning . "MindHub competence network". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Agile learning | hoehne.io . Retrieved April 3, 2017.
5. ↑ Christof Arn: Agile University Didactics . 3rd expanded edition. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim 2020.
6. ↑ With agile planning to success - inspirations from software development | Thought model . Retrieved March 28, 2017.
7. ↑ Agile Studying - Experience reports on an alternative learning method . Retrieved March 21, 2017.
8. ↑ PIAAC_Ebook.pdf . Retrieved March 28, 2017.
9. ↑ Vera Gehlen-Baum, Manuel Illi: Learn what you want! Agile learning for future-oriented companies. BoD, Norderstedt 2019.
10. ↑ agile learning . Retrieved March 21, 2017.
11. ↑ EduScrum . Retrieved May 26, 2020
12. ↑ Scrum4Schools . Retrieved May 26, 2020