Agile in Education + Leadership
Way back in week 12 we looked at Agile - a project management technique originally used for software development - and examined how the same principles might be applied to education. This video gives a quick overview of what Agile is and how it compares to a more traditional 'Waterfall' approach:
We considered the management systems in our schools - what does project management look like? What is the planning process like? Can it embrace change? The concept of change is where Agile comes into its own. It is a way of dealing with change as it happens, in an effective manner. It is all about adaptive leadership.
We had a play with a few practical tools in this session as well. One neat little idea was the use of 'Story Cards'. They are a way of framing goals or problems in a way that is simple, concise and easy to manage. Our group went on to look at these in a little more detail and thought they could be very useful amongst teaching staff to depersonalise problems somewhat and approach things in manageable chunks. The stories have this framework:
As a ________________
I want to _____________
So that I can _______________
One way of dealing with these is to have them on sticky notes and arrange them in the style of a Kanban board. This is like a moveable to-do list with three columns - To Do, In Progress, Done. A nice classroom application of this could be - Things to be learned, Things we are learning, Things we have learned. The online tool Trello can be used for boards in this style. It is a fantastic collaborative site that is well worth a look.
We also had a bit of a discussion about the Scrum model. There are 'sprints' which are short pieces of work that can be completed quickly in 1-2 weeks, within the larger project. I liked the idea of daily scrum meetings - short chats around 3 questions: What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? What are the roadblocks/issues? Basically short pieces of achievable work with daily meetings to ensure they get done.
Finally Agile in leadership. An agile leader will:
- Facilitate
- Remove obstacles
- Encourage reflection
- Be a servant leader
- Create a safe environment
- Allow the team to self-organise
Design Thinking
This was in week 13 and I actually missed this class altogether due to being away. But design thinking is an approach closely linked to agile. It is about prototyping, consultation and feedback. This is a nice little overview:
One activity the class completed in this session which I really liked was around coming up with bulk ideas. They had 10 minutes to write down as many ideas as possible - going for 100. No idea too small or silly, just quick instinctive thinking. I think this is a great way to take the pressure off and potentially come up with some fantastic thoughts.
Inquiry
Our focus last week was Inquiry Led Learning. Though most of us are already engaging in this in one way or another, the class agreed it was an important topic to include in the course. As a reminder of its value, a chance to reflect on your practice, and an opportunity to hear what others are doing. It was pointed out early that definitions and understandings of inquiry can vary widely, and schools are utilising a variety of models and approaches. But the key concepts are they same, most importantly that inquiry is all about moving from knowing to understanding.
To help us reflect on the process we undertook our own mini inquiry during the session into robots and their infiltration of the workforce. A large and fascinating topic by the way! Check out this link to find out if your job is under threat! Will a robot take your job? We felt that the process of thrashing out our question was the most important bit, and it is a step that is possibly missed out at times in the classroom. I know with young children we need to lead and structure that process more than others, but there is definitely room for more discussion around what the children want to know. It is important to teach what makes a good question and they will need guidance, but that doesn't mean always simply choosing it for them.
Good questions:
- Answerable
- Answer cannot be a simple fact
- Answer cannot already be known
- Must have some objective basis of an answer
- Cannot be too personal - need relevance outside your own personal situation
A practical tool we used in this session was Instagrok - a concept map based research tool that is very useful for quickly mapping out ideas about a topic.
We also briefly looked at the nQuire site. This allows you to create online inquiries for your class. I haven't had a proper look at this yet but think it looks very exciting - check out this wee video about it.
Ok at least I've got some of the highlights down for later reflection! Excited for tomorrow's session - check back next week to find out about my experiences with 3D printing!
