Agiletl: A framework for enhancing teaching and learning practices using software development principles

Action research is widely accepted in education circles as an effective practice that brings about change and improvement in the field. Action research is however not as commonly adopted by teachers (or lecturers) in their daily practices due to challenges that include a lack of understanding (in this context, of how to conduct action research), a lack of time, and the daunting prospect of uncertainty in the classroom. These challenges are also faced by software engineers when applied to the domain of software design and development and has been the focus of much research and methodologies aimed at overcoming these challenges. One such approach which has seen high uptake is agile software development which comprises phases that occur in cycles, a concept that is central to the theory of action research. The study, therefore, investigates whether the initial perception of similarities between action research and agile can be leveraged to guide Software Engineering lecturers in enhancing their teaching and learning practices more effectively. The result of this study is a framework that offers lecturers familiar with agile a systematic approach to improving their teaching and learning using familiar software development methods and principles. While this agile-based framework is designed with Information Technology lecturers in mind, it can hopefully be adopted in other disciplines as a framework that uses agile project management principles to overcome some of the identified challenges to carrying out action research in the first place.