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Virginia King Assessing Computer Project Management at Coventry U niversity

Virginia King Assessing Computer Project Management at Coventry U niversity. Background Strategy Examples Lessons Learned. The Module (326IS Computer Project Management). Cohort now grown from 200 to 400 final year undergraduates of diverse backgrounds, experience and skills

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Virginia King Assessing Computer Project Management at Coventry U niversity

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  1. Virginia KingAssessing Computer Project Management at Coventry University Background Strategy Examples Lessons Learned

  2. The Module (326IS Computer Project Management) • Cohort now grown from 200 to 400 final year undergraduates of diverse backgrounds, experience and skills • The assessments build on second year practical group project work (for most students) • Uses small projects as the focus for coursework and large commercial projects as the focus for lectures and exam • Syllabus includes formal estimating, aspects of the PRINCE methodology & planning with MS Project • Has own interactive module website to which all students have access

  3. Why: What: How: To help students identify previous contact with project management in all areas of life, and then use this to develop project management skills. Every individual must undertake some kind of unique project and critically evaluate their success Individual courseworks are created either by mail merging a list of topics with the list of students, or by requiring some element of uniqueness from each student within a given theme. Assessment Strategy

  4. The Picnic Project • A practical and superficially simple project – an alternative was offered for those who wanted a more academic assignment • All predictable (& many unpredictable) calamities befell the groups • The PRINCE Product Description of picnic items included one for “Hot Water”… • Client (dis-)satisfaction was a big issue

  5. The eCommerce Estimation Project • A planning and evaluation project • This was set in 2000 and is only loosely to do with eCommerce … • It was a mail-merged assignment “… constructed so that every member of the 326IS group has their own personal version.” • In fact there were about four students for every topic but each had a different measure of success and these students was unknown to each other • Students were allocated topics (mainly) according to their course code (BIT, GIS, S/w Eng etc.) • Noted that weak students tended not to submit this coursework (little scope for plagiarism?)

  6. The PRINCE 2 Travel Project. • A competitive group project • Use of a commercial website as a source of data may not be a good idea… • Built on a previous assignment where students had formed groups using the website discussion forum • First attempt at getting students to assess the quality of their own work within a group

  7. The IT Consultancy Project • Allowed students to develop their own original project proposal & practice using report standards • However, problems reported with theft of ideas and printouts of ‘evidence’ • Much student debate* on what was expected using module discussion forum which helped raise quality • First use of specific assessment criteria*: • To gain a pass (40%) … • To gain a first class mark (70%) • Bonus marks could be gained for early hand-in to reward good time-management* * (Ref QAA Computing Benchmark recommendations)

  8. The User Liaison Project • A ‘doing’ project • Flexibility for students • a group of any size > 2 • Involved each person creating a website according to groups’ standards which should have been set at lowest technical ability • Provided experience of client:supplier tensions • Groups found the selection of ‘best’ website in a group challenging and some thought that it “does not involve enough project management” …

  9. Some Student Feedback on this Year’s Run “Courseworks are very good and I get the most motivation to do these because they’re not boring” “We are given real life examples which help understand areas and the assignments have been interesting to do” “I think that assignments were a bit confusing. It was hard to figure out, what you wanted us to do” “Original ideas for courseworks” “I've learnt new things - working in groups for the 2nd assig made me understand the team aspect of a project”

  10. Lessons Learned • The combination of stimulating assessments, formal lectures, surgeries and website support have ensured a consistently high pass rate for this module • Increasing use can be made of website facilities Now: • To support inter-student discussion • To make announcements • To clarify issues via a FAQ page In the future: • To allocate groups automatically & provide them each with a virtual workspace • To log deliverables for an assignment electronically • Possibly online assessment???

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