Agile Education, Lean Learning

Abstract

There is growing interest in applying both agile and lean concepts in the classroom to improve educational experiences. In this chapter, we draw together the disparate ideas of these two fields from industrial practice and the existing work within this area to develop and frame the major concepts of agile and lean thinking for teaching and learning. The chapter summarises the key ideas relating to how values, processes and techniques from agile software development, overlaid with related concepts from lean thinking, can be translated to the broader needs of education across disciplines for students of all ages. From a review of the available literature, we draw out a simple conceptual framework that we use to present the key themes from the literature around how both agile and lean approaches can be used in education. We conclude by providing some insights into how agile and lean teaching and learning can be applied as an integrated set of educational concepts by identifying the essential skills and practices that can be transferred to the classroom.