Using a Case Method Approach in an IT Project Management Curriculum: A Long Look over the Shoulder of a Practitioner at Work

Albon²,

Pablos

2013

InSITE Conference

Self Cite

There is little doubt that advances in technology have provided unprecedented opportunities to develop more effective learning platforms, with the aim of ultimately providing better student learning outcomes. However, technological innovations on their own may provide little more than improvements in quality and productivity over previously used methods. Technology, regardless of how advanced the technology is, should never be used as a substitute for good teaching practice, but as a means of enhancing existing good teaching practices. This paper discusses how, over a period of 4 years, technology has been embedded into a project management course within the United Arab Emirates in order to provide students with a more effective learning experience.The various technologies used in this example include videos of a case study project used in the course, a working example of the application software that was developed for the case study, audio recording of lectures and the construction of videos containing power point slides overlaid with previously recorded audio files.

Section: Pedagogical Development Of a Project Management Coursementioning

confidence: 99%

Using Technology to Enhance a Project Management Course in the United Arab Emirates

Albon²,

Pablos

2013

InSITE Conference

Self Cite

“…The case study covered real events over a 20 month period of the project, from the initial requirements stage to the eventual demise of the project. A specific aim of the ITPM course was to help students understand ideas and meanings rather than to merely impart the learning of techniques (Jewels & Bruce, 2003;Jewels & Ford, 2004;Jewels, Jones, & Ford, 2003).…”

Section: An Initial Taxonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of a Taxonomy of Desired Personal Qualities for IT Project Team Members and Its Use in an Educational Setting

Ford

2006

JITE:Research

Self Cite

Although much literature exists on desired qualities of team leaders of IT projects and even desired components of the team, there is a paucity of literature on the desired personal qualities of individuals working within team settings. This research set out to empirically investigate the personal qualities which students believe would be desirable in IT project team members. An initial attempt to create a taxonomy of desired personal qualities was made using feedback from two groups of students; undergraduate and graduate students who had completed an IT project management (ITPM) course. The students were asked, as part of a major group assignment, to give the personal qualities that they would want in project team members if they were a project manager. This topic had not been explicitly covered in their course, though there had been an underlying emphasis on the importance of 'soft skills'.From reading the students' responses, a taxonomy that varied along two main dimensions was developed; first, whether the named quality related specifically to the work environment or whether the quality was one that would be relevant to many aspects of life, and second, whether or not the quality relied on interaction with others and thus whether it was better described as personal or interpersonal. Further, a division was made concerning whether the quality was more a characteristic of a person, called a trait here, or a skill.After the initial taxonomy was developed, it was applied to a different set of students. This new group of students had recently completed a third level, year long, group IT project for external clients. These students, who were from a different university from the first two groups of students, were asked, via email, to give the personal qualities they would want in project team members. From reading the responses, it was apparent that the taxonomy needed to be extended by adding a new dimension, 'values', which would include qualities like honest and hard-working.This new dimension thus allowed a distinction to be made between qualities that reflected a person's values and those that did not, like being cooperative or fun-loving. 'real world' experiences of team work, students may be confronted to an unrealistic degree with poor work ethics of fellow team members, thus leading to a perspective where work values are paramount. Interestingly, while the ITPM course had placed an emphasis on 'soft skills', the undergraduate ITPM students gave less emphasis to interpersonal qualities than graduate students. It may be that the work experience of graduate students has allowed them to see the importance of interpersonal skills. Though initially not concerned with the effects of different methods of educating future IT Project members, our findings give some insight into such educational issues.

“…It was first offered in semester 2, 2002, after which an initial study of student learning was undertaken. Jewels & Bruce (2003) surveyed students who had undertaken the first offering of the unit. They aimed to see whether students had taken a deep or a surface approach to learning and whether the students' results for the unit were influenced by their approach.…”

Section: An Integrated Case Study Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responses were obtained from 30 undergraduates and 31 postgraduates, representing approximately 30% and 60% of the students enrolled, respectively. Students were categorized as taking different learning approaches using the same criteria as used by Jewels & Bruce (2003).…”

Section: The Second Offeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Initial evaluation of the desired learning outcomes (Jewels & Bruce, 2003) suggested that the approach did not sufficiently encourage a deep approach to learning. These results appeared to confirm Entwistle' s (1988) findings that few students were "able to carry through all the component processes demanded by a fully deep approach which would have resulted in a deep level of understanding", (p28).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Single Case Study Approach to Teaching: Effects on Learning and Understanding

Ford

2004

InSITE Conference

Self Cite

In the choice of a pedagogy for a new unit on IT project management, an innovative single case study approach was chosen, in the hope of providing a ‘virtual environment’ in which students could embed themselves. By providing a single, rich, descriptive project environment for students, it was hoped that they would become deeply involved in the case and thus adopt a deeper approach to learning and subsequently a greater understanding of the theoretical constructs covered in the unit. The pedagogy chosen is being evaluated and where necessary revised in what can be described as an action learning approach. Following an initial evaluation of the learning approaches adopted by students, revisions were made to the pedagogy. This paper discusses the findings from two subsequent offerings of the unit.