Abstract:

Software development methodologies have evolved in many ways, moving from the waterfall-based ideologies towards embracing an ideology of iterative, rapid development and deployment of code changes. As instructors, we also need to move from instructional methods based on the practices developed years ago and adjust our teaching methods to include tools and apply methods and best practices that software engineers and leaders use and promote. Scrum and related variants continue to be the most practiced Agile methodologies used in industry. To prepare students for their professional careers, teaching these methodologies is becoming an integral part of the software development courses. This paper serves as a report on the classroom activities in the Application Development Practices course at Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia that teaches Scrum on a group project that utilizes many concepts and tools including version control, build utilities, error handling and logging, static and dynamic code analysis, testing, deployment and others. The paper first explains the need for a course like this and gives an overview of the course structure and content. It then reports how each step of the Scrum phases and processes is being planned and conducted. Finally, the paper concludes with observations and suggestions for those who may engage in such activity in the future, including the future development and the directions of the course described in this paper.

Keywords:

Agile, Scrum, Collaborative project-based learning, Software development, Education, Tools, Teaching.