Issues and Challenges of Adopting Agile Methodologies in Software Engineering Courses
Boris Milašinović, Krešimir Fertalj · International Journal of Technology and Engineering Studies · 2018
This paper enumerates some of the possible pitfalls to the successful introduction of agile methodologies in software engineering education.Scrum is the most dominant, or at least the most trending agile methodology.The literature review has been done to find possible solutions to avoid the issues concerning adioption of agile methodologies.This paper elicits common problems, mentioned in literature, expanded with some issues, opinions, and suggestions from the authors' perspective.The findings highlight that the human factor can accelerate learning.However, it can also impede the acquisition of agile values due to lack of knowledge, cultural issues, resistance to change, wrong mindset, and collaboration.Furthermore, some aspects usually do not occur in the real world.Students are usually distracted by some other activities, do not have a typical workplace, causing additional effort when "meeting" in a distributed context.By comparing personal experiences with the literature review, it can be concluded that existing solutions and methods for adopting agile methodologies in software engineering education cannot be cloned as the success rate significantly depends on staff availability and personal and cultural factors.Based on these findings, some valuable suggestions for addressing these issues are enlisted.Educators and educational policy makers could use the findings to enhance the learning and development of engineering students.