A workshop for integrating UML modelling and agile development in the classroom

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Students have various difficulties with software modelling, the software development process and with positioning modelling as a means to support their software development. The Agile methodology Scrum has gained popularity in industry and also amongst students. Unfortunately agile projects often lack adequate documentation. Modelling and the agile process could complement each other. The combination of modelling and agile development is not often used in education. Based on our positive experience with the interactive LEGO4SCRUM workshop we use in our programs, we propose an approach based on this workshop that integrates UML modelling into the Scrum process. The workshop lets students experience a whole development cycle from a modelling perspective. Besides this new approach we also categorized comments students wrote down based on their discussions with their peers. We evaluated the workshop with a questionnaire. The students react positive on the approach and indicate they have gained new insights. This paper explains the workshop set-up, presents its evaluation and discusses the results. © 2016 ACM.