Critical learning themes in project management education: Implications for blended learning

Project Management Learning: A Comparative Study between Engineering Students’ Experiences in South Africa and the United Kingdom

“…So, what is the implication of such cultural salience on project management learning? The authors suggest that although project management learning (and teaching) is seen to be independent of the peculiarities of specific disciplines (see Ojiako et al, , ), learning should be framed contextually (see Chipulu et al, ; Ashleigh et al, ; Ojiako et al, ). Specific to South Africa and UK comparative studies, an earlier study by Case and Marshall () found preferred learning approaches of engineering students in South Africa and the United Kingdom to be adaptable, depending on course context.…”

“…This study focuses on two of these research streams: critical dimensions of students’ learning experiences and the relative salience of these dimensions. However, this study's contribution to literature is that, although prior studies on critical dimensions of learning experiences and their saliences (1) significantly contribute to the development of a theoretically rigorous discourse on project management pedagogy and also (2) attribute significant student “voice” to learning experiences and expectations in project management, the majority—if not all—of prior studies exploring critical dimensions of learning experiences and their saliences have been restricted to single‐country cases (Ashleigh et al, ; Bredillet et al, ; Chipulu et al, ; Ojiako et al, , ). This forms the major point of departure of this study in that, as an across ‐country rather than a within ‐country comparative exercise, this study is likely to produce much larger variance in level of perceived salience, thus providing researchers with a much stronger statistical imperative to identifying how specific factors impact on students’ learning experiences.…”

“…An examination of the relevant literature suggests that a number of interrelated research streams are available to facilitate an understanding of the current challenges facing teaching and learning in both engineering (e.g., Kember, Ng, Tse, Wong, & Pomfret, ; Zhou, ) and project management education (Chipulu et al, ; Ojiako et al, , , ; Ashleigh et al, ; Louw & Rwelamila, ). In the case of engineering education, there are five such interrelated research streams: (1) studies focused on the expansion of pedagogical imperatives, particularly those related to teaching and learning approaches and outcomes (e.g., Marton, Hounsell, & Entwistle, ), who conceptualize learning approaches as descriptions of courses of action available when tackling specific learning tasks); (2) studies focused on improving teaching skills and increasing employer engagement; (3) studies focused on developing students’ “transferable” as opposed to “inductive” and “intrinsic” understanding skills (see Bruneel, D'Este, & Salter, ); (4) studies focused on how to balance student workload, study time, and learning approaches against academic outcomes (e.g., Kember et al’s [] study, which found perceived workload and academic outcomes to be dependent on student motivation); and (5) studies addressing questions of relevance for all the foregoing streams of research.…”

Arising Need of Teachers to Actively Use Project Management Knowledge in Practice: the Case of the Czech Republic

“…The current practice of project management education cannot be applied in this case because there is neither time nor funding for teachers to study university programs focused on project management or to attend special project management courses. An alternative to special project management courses attendance that bridges the gap between the most used current practice and the demand of educational institutions can be broader application of blended learning, web-based learning or school-based teacher learning communities (McLoughlin, Luca, 2002;McLoughlin, Talbert, 2006;Ashleigh et al, 2012). This paper deals with the efficiency and success rate of education development projects realized by schoolteachers in the role of project managers.…”

Percepção da experiência de aprendizagem em termos de motivação, engajamento e desenvolvimento de competências: um estudo no ensino de gestão de projetos por simuladores para pós-graduandos no Brasil

“…Apesar dos trabalhos mencionarem o processo de ensino e fatores relevantes nesse processo Ojiako et al, 2014;Mengel, 2008;Ashleigh et al, 2012;Chipulu et al;2011) ou de contar com a aplicação de técnicas múltiplas no ensino (Dixon, 2008;Stoyan, 2008), não há uma ligação entre técnicas de ensino, processo de aprendizagem e competências adquiridas pelo estudante.…”