Title: Enhancing project management course outcomes using an experiential learning approach

Authors: Harry L. Reif; Jeffrey L. May

Addresses: College of Business, James Madison University, USA ' College of Business, James Madison University, USA

Abstract: Project management skills have become increasingly important for information systems (IS) professionals. Like most skills, project management skills are developed through practice. This paper describes an innovative solution for integrating a structured project into an information systems curriculum project management course. The innovation applies best practices drawn from the experiential learning literature to the design of a course project. Our solution enhances students' project management knowledge and provides opportunities to apply that knowledge to develop project management skills. The paper presents the underlying theory, describes how that theory is incorporated in the project, provides and discusses the actual project so that others may use it as-is or adapt it to their courses, presents excerpts of students' reactions and concludes with several suggestions from the authors.

Keywords: project management; experiential learning; problem-based learning; PBL; course project; pedagogy; collaborative learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2018.089615

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2018 Vol.23 No.2, pp.227 - 243

Received: 29 Jul 2016
Accepted: 27 Sep 2016

Published online: 02 Feb 2018 *

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