Agile Corps - A Public Service-Learning Program Part II

• Published in: International journal for service learning in engineering 2021-04, Vol.16 (1), p.58-89
• Main Authors: Udoewa, Victor, Maier, Andrew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1555-9033; 1555-9033
• DOI: 10.24908/ijsle.v16i1.14491

Annually, the U.S. government invests $94 billion on IT products and services. The majority of these projects fail--they are late, over budget, canceled outright, or, if delivered, are outdated or not user-friendly. Due to barriers in hiring and training, the government tends to outsource IT talent at a premium through contractors, but outsourcing talent has not changed the results. Inside the government, the small amount of talent that exists tends to be senior, and there currently are very few, viable options for high-quality, junior and mid-level technologists to find a job in government and professionally develop and progress. Agile Corps is a program designed to identify, recruit, train, and retain junior and mid-level technology talent in the government. Agile Corps exemplifies public service-learning, a learning approach and strategy that combines learning objectives, instruction, and reflection with government service for the public. After completing a discovery research process followed by prototyping and testing the program design, we piloted the Agile Corps program at the US Department of Labor. This paper presents the Department of Labor pilot of Agile Corps and the concept of public service-learning, and measures the impact of the Agile Corps pilot at the Department of Labor.