Towards better Scrum learning using learning styles

Abstract

Considerable attention has been paid to teaching Scrum in software engineering education as an academic response to the software industry's demands. In order to reinforce and strengthen the understanding of Scrum concepts, professors should personalize the learning process, catering for students' individual learning characteristics. To address this issue, learning styles become effective to understand students' different ways of learning. In this context, the meshing hypothesis claims that when both teaching and learning styles are aligned, the students' learning experience is enhanced. However, the literature fails to evidence support for the meshing hypothesis in the context of software engineering education. We aim to corroborate the meshing hypothesis by using teaching strategies matching the Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model in a Scrum course. Based on previous findings, we focused on the processing dimension of the model. To validate our approach, two experiments were conducted in an undergraduate software engineering course in the academic years 2013 and 2014. We provided students with a Scrum class by applying teaching strategies suiting students' learning style. Test results corroborate that students' outcomes improved when receiving the strategy that match their learning styles. Our data highlight opportunities for improving software engineering education by considering the students' learning preferences.