TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION WITH AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

The present trend of automation and digitization of jobs has made the skills gap even more pronounced, indicating that graduates are not sufficiently prepared for the challenges they will face in their careers. The educational process needs to adapt quickly to the demands made by employers and the job market. Learning tasks, assignments, and activities should mimic the practice environment as far as possible, to best prepare students for practice. One of the best approaches appears to be the incorporation of agile project management techniques and project-based learning into the educational process. The primary aim of this research is to examine the effects of implementing agile management techniques and project-based learning into education on students' skill sets and performance improvement rates. The activities and results that the students produced throughout the semester were gathered and assessed over two academic years. The course feedback was also gathered to investigate students' opinions about the course and their involvement during the semester. An exploratory study was conducted in order to achieve the results. The influence of implemented innovations on the course was addressed, and the acquired outcomes were contrasted and appraised.