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Assessing Project Management LearningHow can it make a difference?
Presented by Steve [email protected]
Steve Barron is Director of theMSc/Diploma in Project Management (in Practice)
‘One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try’ - Sophocles, 400BC
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Content of the Presentation
Effectively managing projects today
Learning and Assessment
The Lancaster MSc
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Audience for PM Learning
Mature practitioners Experience with project working in
organisations Some knowledge of PM language and process Majority have a “technical” background
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Project Management versus “Technology”
Project Work(maximises chance
of success andminimises chance
of failure)
“Real Work”(often
concentrates at low level)
Facilitates
Frames
Do they demand different types of thinking/action?
Project ManagementKnowledge
Industry-specificTechnical-expert
Knowledge
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Assembly line, 1913
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
3 Types of Management?
Strategic Management
Project ManagementOperations Management
Effective‘Doing the right job’
Efficient‘Doing the job right’
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Changing with the times….
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Projects demand “joined-up” thinking
A System A Heap
“A system is an entity that maintains its existence and functions as a whole through the interaction of its parts” O’Connor & McDermott (1997)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Project Requirement
WBS
RisksEstimates
Network
Schedule& Budgets
Objectives,Strategy, MoS.
Deliverables,Milestones,Assumptions ConstraintsTraceability
MitigationId.Risks
Resource
Projects demand “joined-up” thinking
Grossly simplified
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Project Management today
o Technical or Management?o Unskilled or Knowledge workers?o Repeated or Unique?o Complicated or Complex?o Tricks or Systems?
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Learning and Assessment
How can learning and assessment theories inform how programmes can provide successful project managers?
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Approaches to Learning
Surface Learning: Busy doing nothing
Deep Learning: Climb every mountain, ford every stream
Strategic Learning: Just reviewing the situation
Entwistle (1996)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Hierarchy of Learning
Novice
AdvancedBeginner
Competent
Proficient
Expert
From Dreyfus 1986
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Learning Transfer
Knight & Yorke (2003)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Assessment Provides Focus
“Assessment is the most powerful lever teachers have to influence the way students respond to courses and behave as learners.” Gibbs (1999)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Assessment Provides Focus
Personal qualities, e.g. self-awareness, initiative, E.I.
Core Skills, e.g. self-management, listening, creativity
Process Skills, e.g. prioritizing, influencing, decision making
Knight & Yorke (2003, p151)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Learning and Assessment
Strategic learning
Level of Expertise
Near transfer Far transfer
Assess process application
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
The Lancaster MSc
"If the relevant skill is unicycling, we should not be asking the students to write a history of the Unicycle or to describe the parts of the unicycle or indeed give instructions on how to mount a Unicycle: instead we should assess them on doing it!” Brown and Glasner (1999, 8)
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
The Lancaster MSc
ProjectNOT TechnicalManagementSystems
Approach
StrategicApproach
to Learning
Process Skills
Focus onFar Transfer
ProjectNOT Operations
Management
RealProject Work
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Personal Engagement
Real stakeholders
Real Deadlines
Real Deliverables
Personal commitment
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Personal Engagement
Real stakeholders
Real Deadlines
Real Deliverables
Personal commitment
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Group Project
Real stakeholders
Real Deadlines
Real Deliverables
Personal and Sharedcommitment
Team workingBehavioursand values
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
In Summary
The nature of today’s projects
Learning and assessment challenges
Real projects and “Far transfer”
Steve Barron, Project Management (in Practice)
Learning by Doing
‘One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try’ - Sophocles, 400BC
