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Teaching a Project Management Fundamentals Course to Working Professionals Eldon R. Larsen, Ph.D. Marshall University, College of Information Technology and Engineering

Abstract

Project management has become very important in today’s business world. Yet, most working professionals have had to learn project management skills almost entirely by experience, with little formal college training in this field. At Marshall University, the Master of Science in Engineering degree program includes an emphasis in Engineering Management, of which Project Management is an important part. The majority of the students in this program are employed full-time as engineers in the business world. They want a course they can use right now. This paper presents a summary of the material taught and the techniques used to teach project management to these working professionals.

Introduction

Project management has become very important in today’s business world. Yet, most working professionals have had to learn project management skills almost entirely by experience, with little formal college training in this field. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the need for formal project management training and are increasingly organizing their business efforts in a project structure. The number of project management courses being offered at universities has been increasing rapidly over the last 10-15 years to help meet the need for more training.

Project Management is one of the core required graduate courses for the Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) degree at Marshall University.1 Because the majority of Marshall’s MSE students are employed full-time as working professionals, they want a course they can use right now. They don’t want theories that are impractical and interesting tools that they will rarely use. They want information that is practical, useful immediately, and that has broad applicability to the project management demands of their jobs. This paper presents a summary of the material taught and the techniques used to teach project management to these working professionals.

Course Overview

Marshall’s graduate Project Management course takes a very specific pedagogical approach: It teaches a specific principle, gives multiple application examples, then requires that the students apply the principle to one or more real situations, not imaginary ones. Then, it

“Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Larsen, E. (2004, June), Teaching A Project Management Fundamentals Course To Working Professionals Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13502