Agile is a popular method for task management developed by the tech community which is now used widely in many business sectors and disciplines and is highly transferable into other areas including education.
Being Agile has applied agile in many scenarios within education:
Workshops and Sessions are available to explore agile education as a student, teacher, or involved in academia in other ways such as the management of schools. Agile helps to encourage and create a experiential, collaborative, learning environment.
Our sessions are custom to fit you and your interest in agile within education. Contact us for an initial free conversation about how we can support your journey
Get in touchThrough my work with Software Cornwall and the creation of a Computing Degree in Cornwall, one element was a double final year unit on agile methods. We used agile methods to develop the course outline, collaborating with others, creating a backlog of items to include. In the second year we pivoted the unit to be more business and project management rather than coding focused to accommodate a broader range of student specialisms within the Computing Technologies course, such as networking, security, games development, hardware development and other computing specialisms.
I also used agile with my kids during lockdown to help us manage home school. It worked brilliantly to track work, support them, and help them be self-organising. On return back to school we have learnt many children didn’t complete home school as they were unable to manage it, H is now re-visiting work he completed in lockdown at school, its given him a real boost, as he is revisiting (iterating!) and a second iteration is really helping him to understand things even better and gain top marks across his subjects.
Agile methods were used to deliver the unit in lessons, covering key aspects of agile. Lessons practical wherever possible to test and try the methods within their own specialisms. The course had a backlog of items for the course, estimated and prioritised, some essential, some desirable, each lesson was a sprint which could contain one or more items to the value of 3 hours. Depending on student progress throughout the year the lesson plans could change and flex, this was particularly useful during lockdown.
Assignments were structured and delivered in an agile way. Students focused on their own specialisms and a case study project for their assignments. This enabled students to collaborate on learning and applying the methods as their context was different and therefore not duplicate. Students were encouraged to work on their assignments in sprints and submit an early Minimum Viable Assignment for feedback, enabling them to reflect and improve upon their work, and experience the agile method. Students were encouraged to use agile methods to plan and manage their study plans and their work/life/study balance.
Students studying for their GCSEs or higher level qualifications are required to continuously complete homework, create assignments and study for exams. To perform their best they need time and task management skills to plan and manage their workload effectively. Agile methods provide a tactile and hands on way to help students to map out their study and revision plans and help them get the best results and reduce stress of feeling overwhelmed.
The method enables and encourages students to self-manage their learning, and organise and plan their study and revision in a simple and easy way.
These simple ‘agile’ methods provide students with the study skills and tools they need to plan, prioritise and action their work.
In this hands on workshop students will create an agile study plan for their personal homework, assignments and exam revision. We will also plan free time and hobbies in too!
Students will work on their own personal agile study plan in the workshop and have a practical wall planner and all the materials needed to take home and use straight away.
Complete the Being Agile online course and gain your Certificate in Being Agile. Learn about the Being Agile mindset and method, gain more tools, games and exercises for boosting your agility.
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