EFFECTIVENESS IN TEACHING PROJECT MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS BASED ON STUDENT EVALUATIONS.

• Author: Teller, Elvira
• Position: Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Project Management Fundamentals is an online three-unit undergraduate elective course offered to third and fourth year business students at the California State University system. The Department of Information Systems offers this online course to students to provide an understanding of the tools and techniques required to manage a project from inception to implementation. This study focuses on evaluating the various modes of online instruction used to teach the undergraduate Project Management Fundamentals course by analyzing the information obtained from a five-question survey given to students upon completion of the course.

According to Mengel (2008), learning has traditionally been conceptualized as not only rational and linear, but deterministic and quantifiable. This quantitative study analyzes the students' responses on the effectiveness of the five modes of instruction on learning project management concepts. The modes of online instruction included in the evaluation are:

1. Learning project management concepts,

2. Completing assignments to apply project management concepts,

3. Taking online quizzes and tests,

4. Learning an essential project management scheduling tool,

5. Applying the principles of project management by engaging in a group project.

   This study evaluates the five modes of instruction from the students' perspectives, compares each mode of instruction to the respective average grade, and documents students' expectations on the number of hours to be spent on each mode of instruction.

   LITERATURE REVIEW

   The content and methods of teaching a fundamentals project management course have grown within the last decade. The number of academic project management programs increased greatly from 1990 onward (Turner, Anbari, & Bredillet, 2013). There is academic research literature on teaching project management and the use of project management programs to achieve organizational strategic and competitive advantages (Morris et al., 2006). Teaching a project management fundamentals course online is another aspect of academic research literature.

   When constructing an online project management fundamentals course, important considerations are research related to project management from academics and practitioners. Adding to this research is information about teaching online rather than in the traditional teaching (face-to-face) environment. It is important that students learn the basic concepts of project management and have the experience managing a project. While detail on all research is not prudent, an overview of the breadth of literature on project management topics is presented.

   Project management requires organizational and managerial skills, such as identifying and organizing the many tasks comprising a project, allocating resources to complete those tasks, and tracking actual against expected resource utilization. Due to the significant amount of information to teach and for students to learn regarding project management, selecting the right amount of information necessary to teach undergraduate students is considerable.

   The goal of teaching students is to impart the right amount of information for the ten project management knowledge areas, while not going into depth on such topics as project crashing, PERT charts, or earned-value. The fundamentals class should cover the various project management topics sufficiently, focusing on the project management skills necessary to understand the complexity in managing a successful project and to realize that cost and schedule overruns must be managed throughout all projects.

   What modes of instruction should be included when teaching a course in project management? A review of the literature from academic, practitioner, and online teaching fields is presented. Turner, Anabari, and Bredillet (2013) reviewed the trends in academic research in project management. The authors list nine major schools of thought in relation to project management: optimization, modeling, governance, behavior, success, decision, process, contingency, and marketing. The main premise of each school is defined below:

1. Optimization--Breaking the project into smaller components to ensure an optimum outcome.

2. Modeling--Obtaining a full-view of the total system by studying and understanding the main elements of a project.

3. Governance--Viewing the project as a legal entity; either a) the relationship of the project to the parties involved, or b) the relationship between two entities: the client and the contractor.

4. Behavior--Observing several areas of organizational behavior (team-building, leadership, communication, and human resource management) as it relates to project inception to completion.

5. Success--Focusing on project success factors and criteria, and failure of projects.

6. Decision--Addressing the viability of the project based on economic, cultural, and political investments.

7. Process--Solving a current problem or "vision" of a problem using the principles of project management.

8. Contingency--Approaching projects and project management as an evolving system, treating all projects differently; however, understanding that the methodology is flexible but applicable.

9. Marketing--Understanding that communication to major stakeholders and clients cannot be underestimated for successful project implementation.

   The authors stated that project management is a relatively young academic discipline, and that the development of research in the nine schools has led to progress in project management and across disciplines.

   Kolltveit, Karlsen, and Gronhaug (2007) evaluated the research on key aspects underlying the various perspectives applied to project management. They define the term "perspective" similar to "mental models," emphasizing some aspects and leaving others out. More specifically, a "perspective" is obtained through a historical lens developed in a precise context. Through literature review and practical experience, the authors observe six perspectives underlying project management literature.

1. The task perspective--The focus of this perspective is the scientific approach to project management. Project management requires a systematic approach.

2. The leadership perspective--This perspective includes the soft skills required to lead a team and implement a project successfully. The soft skills include, but are not limited to, leadership, communication, and team-building.

3. The systems perspective--This perspective implies viewing a project from top-down rather than individual units comprising the whole. Projects are subsets of the organizational system in which all parts affect the whole.

4. The stakeholder perspective--This is a unique perspective, as it singles out the importance of project success based on the management of the relationship between the project and its stakeholders.

5. The transaction cost perspective--This perspective highlights the importance of financial decisions when undertaking a project. Extending a project by overruns is to be contained. Also, contract development, negotiation, and execution are relevant.

6. The business by project perspective--This perspective focuses on the reason to undertake a project. This perspective includes knowledge to calculate the viability of starting a project, which includes various financial methods: payback method, net present value, or return on investment.

   The authors' further note the change over time (1983-2003) in the number of articles published in the International Journal of Project Management in support of the six perspectives.

   * Task, leadership, and systems perspectives dominated.

   * Leadership perspective increased over time, and task and system perspectives decreased.

   * Within the period 2003-2004, the number of articles related to leadership was higher than task and systems perspectives combined.

   * Within the period 2003-2004, a growing interest in business perspective was observed.

   Since there are fundamental changes to the six perspectives in project management from a practitioner's view, it is important that teaching and learning processes are cognizant of the information and implemented accordingly.

   It is not only important to know what to teach regarding project management principles, but to understand how to teach the subject. The majority of faculty teach by employing the same methods of instruction that they received (Halpern & Hakel 2003). Halpern and Hakel (2003) describe effective teaching techniques to facilitate learning. These techniques include:

1. Practice retrieving information,

2. Vary the different types of problems in the same lesson,

3. Represent information in alternative formats,

4. Display prior knowledge and experience prior to start of new knowledge,

5. Understand the various learning styles of students,

6. Ascertain the students' level of knowledge and experience in the subject matter,

7. Lecture with recognition tests for improvement in learning and retention,

8. Test for...