The Agile Hour in a Virtual World: Teaching Agile Methods with Open Wonderland

Abstract

Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) are the subject of increasing interest for educators and trainers. In the context of software development, they are beginning to see increasing use both as learning spaces and as a richer means of collaboration for virtual teams. This chapter reflects on a project that developed and evaluated a virtual agile software development workshop hosted in the Open Wonderland MUVE, designed to help learners to understand the basic principles of some core agile software development techniques. The work took a design-based research approach, following a reflective path of development through two major iterations. The authors trace the research process from a real world implementation of the “agile hour” workshop to its virtual incarnation, describing the design philosophy and the constructed virtual artifacts. They conclude by reflecting on the insights into learner perceptions and practical implementations gained from building and evaluating the Open Wonderland workshop.