After a long journey, we have finally arrived at the end of our four-part project management series. My classmates and I are finishing up our final projects now. Mine, a digital pen pal project, will be posted to this site in the Education section, accessible by the menu above. All of our projects are at the intersection of instructional systems design, educational technology, and project management. In this post, I would like to reflect on the most important things I learned in this class.
A mere 8 weeks ago I knew nothing about project management. I had heard the term but did not know what it involved. Now, after taking this course, I know many ways that project management can help the instructional designer. Instructional design helps us know what educational tools to create, but project management tells us how to go about doing it. At the most general level, project management deals with the constraints placed upon a project by stakeholders, time, and money. While the instructional designer’s ADDIE model may touch upon these, project management more directly addresses them.
As we discussed before, it is important to identify stakeholders early in the process. When dealing with stakeholders, the project’s scope statement is an important tool. It details exactly what the project will deliver, and what it will not deliver. Having stakeholders sign off on the scope statement makes certain they know what to expect. As the project unfolds, stakeholders follow a communication plan so that they are kept informed and their voice is heard.
Time is another key element to project management. After all, time is involved in the very definition of the term project. In order to be considered a project, the operation must be temporary in nature and deliver a unique product. In the project proposal, project managers must give a general outline of expected project milestones. After this is signed off on, the work-breakdown structure can be created. This is a very detailed deconstruction of the major deliverables of the project. The work-breakdown structure can be used to create a more detailed project schedule than what was originally included in the project proposal.
Third, money is a third consideration the project manager must address. I was lucky in my project, because I didn’t have to deal with many budgetary constraints. My project used already employed teachers and already purchased equipment so it did not require a big investment from the school. However, I did make a record of how much money the school would have to pay its employees as part of their normal salary. It is recommended that project managers make a record of these expenses. One reason for this is that if anyone wants to execute the project in the future they will know how much it will cost.
Project management is a huge field that people could spend decades learning about, but I feel that in a couple of months I have come to understand the basics. Through my own final project I have had the opportunity to practice these fundamentals. I look forward to further expanding my abilities in the realm of instructional design, creating everything from the single classroom activity to entire curriculums. I also look forward to applying what I know about project management to the other projects in my life.
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