How can students be prepared for an agile working environment by teachers?

Looking for story-tellers…

Given that more and more workplaces are describing themselves as using agile methods, both in IT and more widely, teachers should rightly be concerned with understanding what approaches are most effective when preparing students for their careers. After all, it’s unlikely that a waterfall education is appropriate for people working in an agile world.

In this session we invite stories from graduates of courses (formal or informal, academic or not) that included a module on agile software development or business agility in organisations about how what you learned helped you in your careers. invite you to bring and share short stories about how your education and training impact your work lives.

If you’re wondering if your story is relevant, this is the sort of thing we’re looking for:
• Did a particular exercise bring an agile idea to life?
• Did something a teacher said always confuse you until you saw something in the “real” world that made it click?
• Have you found yourself returning to notes or textbooks about agile ideas in the workplace?
• Has a teacher helped ignite a passion for agile in you?

This session is for you if you are, were or have an interest in students, teachers (lecturers, trainers, mentors, coaches and other educators) and hiring managers. We are considering future sessions to hear from teachers, hirers and others to help understand how education needs to think about agile for the future, and how teachers can bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Format

We’ll be using a Lean Coffee approach to facilitate interesting conversations and hear real stories from participants. Prepare your short story before hand, and at the start of the session we’ll collectively agree which stories we want to hear. During the session you can add new stories to the board, and we’ll adapt as we proceed.

Stories?!

Yes, stories. We all know agile ideas and theories, but we’re more interested in hearing about what that means in the real world. Stories are how we build worlds and communities, ideas and movements, change and improvement. They explain the process of becoming, they shed light on reality, and they’re fun!

We’re not after novels or even fairy tales, we just want to hear what happened, what your experience was, what it meant to you, and/or the impact it had. Start at the beginning, or start at the end, and tell us something interesting, unexpected, inspiring or helpful!