The Magic of Project Resolution in a Short Period of Time: Design Sprint Applied in Higher Education

The research conducted in this study was applied to multidisciplinary groups of Higher Education belonging to different degrees using the methodology proposed by the Design Sprint (DS) tool for the achievement of different challenges/objectives in a very short time. The methodology used is an adaptation of the one proposed by the DS, carried out in five non-consecutive stages/sessions focused on students of the first two years of different degrees of the CEU San Pablo University. The students, in general, have valued very positively the collaborative work in small groups, the time management and the administration of work under stress. The abandonment of the different challenges was set at 32%. A high level of commitment has been appreciated among the students to reach the proposed challenges, however, the work of the mentors as guides, becomes essential in the first courses of the different degrees in a general way. The application of the SD methodology provides students with an increase in their performance, in their ability to work in teams and to adapt in the best possible way to the demands of a society that is increasingly demanding new technologies. Students have increased their ability to reflect, transform and innovate in the different objectives/challenges/projects demanded by the new circumstances and social strategies. The support of good mentors, critics and specialists in the different areas to be addressed is necessary to offer students a better learning experience.


Approach
The European Higher Education Area has meant the incorporation of generic competencies to the learning objectives of the new degrees of Spanish universities, but the forms of communication have changed dizzyingly in the last decade, which has been helped by the health situation due to the pandemic we are experiencing, triggering the different forms of communication in basic tools for all agents of society. The scenario has changed greatly affecting also the academic and teaching scenario (Alaszewski, 2006;Morales 2020;Villafuerte et al., 2020;Feyen, 2020).
The pedagogical design for the formation and evaluation of teamwork competence must take into account the factors that influence and improve the effectiveness of teams (Long, 2020). We think of learning styles as cognitive, affective and physiological traits that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive interactions and respond to their learning environments, which is why studies are needed to determine how the introduction of different tools may affect these styles (Mullarkey & Hevner, 2020).

New Methodology
The introduction of the Design Sprint methodology mostly used in the business environment can be a very valuable tool in the academic environment where team effort is increasingly rewarded with the new academic regulations (Knapp, Zeratsky, & Kowitz, 2011). This new work tool makes students rethink their work in five stages: challenge definition stage, challenge understanding stage, sketching and decision stage, solution The students in each group are organized around a mentor who does not make any decisions, only guides them and makes the group better. Management and decision making belongs only to the working group.
The mentor has only asked his assigned working group to be energetic and innovative in decision making and to bet on a winning solution to overcome the chosen challenge. He has ensured that the deadlines for delivery of the solution proposed by the working group are met and mediated possible problems that may arise in the group due to coexistence among the students.
Nowadays, students access information in a different way than a few years ago, they have gone from being consumers of information to being producers of it. Traditional methods are becoming less attractive and effective in engaging students in Higher Education towards more effective learning (Harnad, 1991;Pérez-Escoda, Castro, & Fandos, 2016;Vera, Torres, & Martínez, 2014).
The rapid advancement of technology means that students must possess 'extra skills' such as problem solving, persistence, critical thinking and collaborative work, in addition to those they are supposed to have to face the different subjects of the different degrees they choose to pursue (Preece, Sharp, & Rogers, 2015;Salinas, 2002Salinas, , 2004Sein et al., 2011).
Students perceive the world as a place with large amounts of problems that they need to know how to address, and where they, themselves, see themselves as capable of participating. They expect some of that work to be done by their formal education at the university, but in reality, students need to learn to live and perform in increasingly competitive and globalized environments (Venable, 2006). Students should take advantage of their mas.ccsenet.org Modern Applied Science Vol. 15, No. 2; ability to investigate the problems that occur around them and be prepared to solve the challenges that life will confront them (Markus, Majchrzak, & Gasser, 2002;Centeno & Cubo, 2013;Sanglier et al., 2021;Arrieta & Montes, 2011).

Challenge-Based Learning
Apart from agile methodologies that will undoubtedly help students to face their problems in a more effective way, Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is being developed based on improved student learning through direct and active participation in open learning experiences (Fidalgo, Sein-Echaluce, & García, 2017;Rekalde & García, 2015). We believe that agile methodologies and ABRs can go hand in hand in helping to achieve those objectives identified above for improvement and effectiveness. One could say that it is experiential learning on the part of the student who is offered the opportunity to apply what has been learned in real situations.
ABR is a pedagogical approach incorporated in certain areas that demands a real-world perspective because it suggests that learning involves the student's doing/acting with respect to a topic of study/challenge/challenge . ABR takes advantage of students being engaged while developing key competencies such as multidisciplinary and collaborative work, developmental and effective communication, decision making, ethics, and leadership.
In general, it could be indicated that ABR in learning invites students to work with teachers, facilitators, mentors and experts in their communities, on real problems to develop a deeper understanding of the topics under study (Prieto, 2008;Barroso et al., 2012;Bonilla & Aguaded, 2018). It is the challenge itself that leads to obtaining new knowledge and the necessary resources and tools; the approach confronts students with a relevant and open problem situation, for which a real situation is demanded; the product as a function of which students are demanded to create a solution that results in a concrete action; the process in which students analyze, design, develop and execute the solution they consider best to reach the final goal in a way that is testable and measurable, and finally the role of the teacher/facilitator in the importance of accompanying and advising students in the search for the solution (Poo-Delgado, 2013;Cabero, 2014;KeijzerBroers, De Reuver & Guldemond, 2015).

Method
The forms of communication are changing by leaps and bounds in an increasingly demanding society, especially due to the latest health events that we are suffering, so that communication has become a basic tool for all agents of society. This has led to the emergence of new needs and challenges demanded by a new society increasingly oriented to new technologies. On the topic of Sustainable Development, issues have been proposed such as: expanding and improving social protection and assistance programs for the poorest and most vulnerable; ensuring health and well-being for everyone at all ages; achieving gender equality; ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy. Promote cohesive city-level strategies to drive innovation, boost sustainable economic and social development; strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience to natural disasters; integrate biodiversity and ecosystem values into local and national planning; promote peaceful societies, etc.
A pilot study was made on students, degrees and challenges assigned to four mentors for strategic and availability reasons, this meant having a sample of 118 students gathered around 3 Challenges (numbered as challenges 3, 14 and 17) related to two fundamental aspects: Communication and Sustainable Development. The names assigned to these challenges were as follows: • Challenge 3: Responsible Communication and Big Data -what should be the optimal responsible system for data storage, processing and analysis? • Setting the objective: this is the moment to choose ideas and discard others.
• Identify a series of key questions (yes/no) that we could ask our environment to check the validity of the objective.
• Understand the process: we are not the first ones to try to reach a solution to this challenge in this way: what do we bring as a novelty.
• And if we ask/search what the experts say.
• We define with all of the above the key opportunities.
• We empathize with the target audience: we understand the audience we are targeting (part of it, you can never reach everyone) and try to analyze if our solution is useful to them (empathy maps).

DAY 3.-VALIDATION
Stage of sketching and deciding.
• Search for relevant information about our key opportunities and target audience. • Share all the information we have at the moment.
• We vote on the most interesting idea.
• We design the storyboard of the experience we want to provide to our audience: we think. DAY 4.-PROTOTYPING Prototyping stage of the solution.
• Discuss options that best fit.
• Divide the work roles: who is going to be the builder, the scriptwriter, the producer, the interviewer...
• Start building the prototype and, if possible, test it with nearby agents.
• Give feedback on the information collected. DAY 5.-FINAL PRESENTATION Validation stage and presentation to the customer.
• Final presentation of the solution.
• Share opinions on the Design Sprint performed.
• Celebrate the success of the group and wait for the jury's decision. The final result of the work was a Powerpoint presentation of a maximum of 20 slides, and the creation of a five-minute video where the group had to expose the issue addressed and the proposed solution, highlighting the main stages they had to address to reach the solution.
All the material submitted by the different groups was subjected to an analysis by mentors and experts to choose the best challenge addressed and the best proposed solution under voting. The winning team was awarded a prize, as were the top students in the challenges.
As noted above, the Design Sprint methodology carried out with university students has a slight disadvantage compared to the one that could be applied to employees of a company, where the possibility of meeting for five consecutive days is possible. Despite the difficulties encountered in developing the sessions in the shortest possible time, difficulties also arose during some of the Sprint sessions, but all groups maintained a positive attitude and were always ready to get back on track by working as a team in an even more agile way. In addition, mas.ccsen the follow process is greatly to Kowitz, 2

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Discussion
The number of female students participating was slightly higher than that of male students, 53.31% versus 46.61% respectively. However, the number of female students who dropped out of the challenge (30.51%) was higher than that of male students (16.10%). As for the achievement of the objective, i.e., the participants' success, the number of male students (30.51%) was higher than that of female students (22.88%). A high dropout rate of participants was observed, mainly due to a greater teaching load in the participants as the course progressed, which prevented them from facing their commitment to the challenge chosen in advance. There were also problems of commitment in setting up meetings, as it was difficult to schedule a timetable that suited everyone. The students who were unable to attend at the beginning were the first to become disconnected from the challenge. The fact of having to make the sessions very continuous has meant an important setback at the time of the commitments on the part of the students.
The degree with more students enrolled in the selected challenges was Economics, with a high percentage of participation much higher than the rest of the degrees. There are also degrees in which only female students have participated in the challenges, such as Medicine, Law, and the double degrees of History + History of Art and Law + International Relations. On the other hand, something similar happened with the students, only those belonging to the degrees of Advertising, History, and the double degree of Economics + Business Intelligence participated in the challenges. In the rest of the degrees, the participation has been very distributed. It should be noted that the success of female students has been mostly in the degrees of Economics, ADE + Marketing and Digital Communication + Advertising and Public Relations, as well as the large number of dropouts by female students in the degrees of Pharmacy and Humanities. There is little participation of students from Science degrees.
Challenge 14 is the most distributed among the different degrees, with 23.72% of participants. Challenge 3 was only selected by students from the degrees of Economics, Pharmacy and Medicine, with 66.10% of participants. Challenge 17 was only selected by participants from the Economics degree program, with 10.18% of participants.
The figure of the mentor, throughout the process of applying the methodology proposed by the Design Sprint during the development of the challenges, has been fundamental for its ability to supervise activities, guide the mas.ccsenet.org Modern Applied Science Vol. 15, No. 2; work teams, review the progress of the teams, channel the efforts, provide feedback on the proposals of the participating students and be like a guide through triggering questions but without giving answers or solutions. Giving up control of the group in order to guide the students in the process of learning and solving the challenge has been a challenge for the different mentors.
As all sessions are conducted online, the mentor loses the ability to see how the students interact and get to know them in a more efficient way. It diminishes their ability to review and guide in a significant way. It is desirable to carry out this type of learning experience in person.
Statistical studies of Pearson correlation and principal component analysis have been carried out in order to observe the relationships and simplifications between the different quantitative variables. The correlation study shows a good correlation between the ten qualitative variables analyzed, presenting cases of worse correlation between 0.4152 and 0.5682 for the following pairs of variables: DROP-Female Students and GRA-Female Students, Challenge-3 and GRA-Female Students, Challenge-17 and GRA-Female Students.
The principal component analysis of the ten variables shows that only one component can express 89.137% of the variability of the data, as can be seen in the sedimentation graph (graph 6) and in the principal component analysis table (table 5).
The application of the Design Sprint methodology has ensured that participating students will gain a deeper understanding of the issues/challenges, learn to diagnose and find various solutions to the challenge. Students are involved in the challenge and in the final solution to solve it. They will also be sensitized to the situations analyzed, develop research processes and carry them out through collaborative and multidisciplinary work involving students from different degrees. A greater approach of students to the real problems of the world, of their country or their community, that they establish relationships with people, teachers and experts, with specialized people that make them understand the problem and that form them as better professionals to face a somewhat uncertain future. Students strengthen the connection between university learning and the real environment. Also students can improve and develop communication skills through the use of social tools and media production techniques.
This type of challenge-based learning (CBL), use of agile methodologies and carried out with the Design Sprint is identified to evidence the link between learning and real problems of the environment, even if these are identified as challenges. These challenges demand skills that transcend what is taught in a University or Higher Education center. The information of the proposed methodology should be presented in a clear and gradual way to the students so that they can deepen their learning and avoid distractions due to an excessive amount of information. The different theories and events that may explain the phenomenon under study could be downplayed, focusing the student only on the results of the phenomenon under study. This type of study shows satisfactory results in terms of performance, satisfaction and motivation in competencies and important contributions in terms of social impact. However, this methodology is relatively new, and can still offer room for improvement in the design of more effective learning experiences. Consideration should be given to the management of workspaces in which students can carry out their projects, as well as requesting the support of mentors and subject matter experts in order to provide students with an enriched and enhanced effective learning experience.