ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum

Elio Tolhoek; Greg Alpár; Ebrahim Rahimi

doi:10.1145/3724389.3730791

Abstract

Agile methodologies like Scrum are vital in software engineering (SE) education but can be complex for students. Especially, planning backlog items during a sprint turns out to be challenging. Our research develops and assesses a web-based educational tool, ScrumQuest, aimed at aiding first-year SE students in mastering Scrum practices with an emphasis on effective planning. Addressing a previous gap in Scrum educational tools, ScrumQuest also includes a unique and novel feature that provides automated feedback on sprint backlog activities to enhance student guidance. Evaluation involving 21 first-year SE university students indicated a positive experience with ScrumQuest, highlighting enhanced engagement and improved usage of sprint backlogs. Students found ScrumQuest easier to use than GitHub Projects, which served as a baseline in the study. In addition to developing and evaluating a novel Scrum educational tool, we contribute to design-science research by providing validated functional requirements within this context. We explain our research and demonstrate ScrumQuest's practical relevance in Software Engineering education.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ITiCSE 2025
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2
Editors	Erik Barendsen, Floor Brinkhorst, Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide, Jaime Urquiza Fuentes, James Paterson, Keith Quille
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	789-789
Number of pages	1
ISBN (Print)	9798400715693
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3724389.3730791
Publication status	Published - 17 Jun 2025
Event	30th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education - Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands Duration: 30 Jun 2025 → 2 Jul 2025 Conference number: 30 https://iticse.acm.org/2025/

Conference

Conference	30th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education
Abbreviated title	ITiCSE 2025
Country/Territory	Netherlands
City	Nijmegen
Period	30/06/25 → 2/07/25
Internet address	https://iticse.acm.org/2025/

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10.1145/3724389.3730791

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Tolhoek, E., Alpár, G., & Rahimi, E. (2025). ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum. In E. Barendsen, F. Brinkhorst, Á. Velázquez-Iturbide, J. Urquiza Fuentes, J. Paterson, & K. Quille (Eds.), ITiCSE 2025: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2 (pp. 789-789). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3724389.3730791

Tolhoek, Elio ; Alpár, Greg ; Rahimi, Ebrahim. / ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool : Teaching Planning in Scrum. ITiCSE 2025: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2. editor / Erik Barendsen ; Floor Brinkhorst ; Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide ; Jaime Urquiza Fuentes ; James Paterson ; Keith Quille. New York : Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. pp. 789-789

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abstract = "Agile methodologies like Scrum are vital in software engineering (SE) education but can be complex for students. Especially, planning backlog items during a sprint turns out to be challenging. Our research develops and assesses a web-based educational tool, ScrumQuest, aimed at aiding first-year SE students in mastering Scrum practices with an emphasis on effective planning. Addressing a previous gap in Scrum educational tools, ScrumQuest also includes a unique and novel feature that provides automated feedback on sprint backlog activities to enhance student guidance. Evaluation involving 21 first-year SE university students indicated a positive experience with ScrumQuest, highlighting enhanced engagement and improved usage of sprint backlogs. Students found ScrumQuest easier to use than GitHub Projects, which served as a baseline in the study. In addition to developing and evaluating a novel Scrum educational tool, we contribute to design-science research by providing validated functional requirements within this context. We explain our research and demonstrate ScrumQuest's practical relevance in Software Engineering education.",

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Tolhoek, E, Alpár, G & Rahimi, E 2025, ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum. in E Barendsen, F Brinkhorst, Á Velázquez-Iturbide, J Urquiza Fuentes, J Paterson & K Quille (eds), ITiCSE 2025: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 789-789, 30th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 30/06/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3724389.3730791

ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum. / Tolhoek, Elio; Alpár, Greg; Rahimi, Ebrahim.
ITiCSE 2025: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2. ed. / Erik Barendsen; Floor Brinkhorst; Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide; Jaime Urquiza Fuentes; James Paterson; Keith Quille. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. p. 789-789.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Abstract/Poster in proceeding › peer-review

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AU - Alpár, Greg

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N2 - Agile methodologies like Scrum are vital in software engineering (SE) education but can be complex for students. Especially, planning backlog items during a sprint turns out to be challenging. Our research develops and assesses a web-based educational tool, ScrumQuest, aimed at aiding first-year SE students in mastering Scrum practices with an emphasis on effective planning. Addressing a previous gap in Scrum educational tools, ScrumQuest also includes a unique and novel feature that provides automated feedback on sprint backlog activities to enhance student guidance. Evaluation involving 21 first-year SE university students indicated a positive experience with ScrumQuest, highlighting enhanced engagement and improved usage of sprint backlogs. Students found ScrumQuest easier to use than GitHub Projects, which served as a baseline in the study. In addition to developing and evaluating a novel Scrum educational tool, we contribute to design-science research by providing validated functional requirements within this context. We explain our research and demonstrate ScrumQuest's practical relevance in Software Engineering education.

AB - Agile methodologies like Scrum are vital in software engineering (SE) education but can be complex for students. Especially, planning backlog items during a sprint turns out to be challenging. Our research develops and assesses a web-based educational tool, ScrumQuest, aimed at aiding first-year SE students in mastering Scrum practices with an emphasis on effective planning. Addressing a previous gap in Scrum educational tools, ScrumQuest also includes a unique and novel feature that provides automated feedback on sprint backlog activities to enhance student guidance. Evaluation involving 21 first-year SE university students indicated a positive experience with ScrumQuest, highlighting enhanced engagement and improved usage of sprint backlogs. Students found ScrumQuest easier to use than GitHub Projects, which served as a baseline in the study. In addition to developing and evaluating a novel Scrum educational tool, we contribute to design-science research by providing validated functional requirements within this context. We explain our research and demonstrate ScrumQuest's practical relevance in Software Engineering education.

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M3 - Conference Abstract/Poster in proceeding

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PB - Association for Computing Machinery

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Tolhoek E, Alpár G, Rahimi E. ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum. In Barendsen E, Brinkhorst F, Velázquez-Iturbide Á, Urquiza Fuentes J, Paterson J, Quille K, editors, ITiCSE 2025: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 2. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. p. 789-789 doi: 10.1145/3724389.3730791

ScrumQuest Software Engineering Educational Tool: Teaching Planning in Scrum

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