Pedagogical imperatives in the teaching of project management

Abstract

This research builds on previous work conducted within the area of professional civil engineering education that explores pedagogical implications of teaching project management within the civil engineering discipline. The focus is to explore how pedagogical considerations impact on the experience of civil engineering students studying project management. This exploration utilises data gathered from a survey of 410 management and civil engineering students studying project management across four UK universities. Data analysis was conducted using a combination of exploratory data analysis, three-way multidimensional scaling and property fitting. Although differences in salience were found, the existence of common dimensions of project management pedagogy suggests two important implications: first that project management is independent of specific discipline peculiarities (and by implication, interdisciplinary), and second that the approach to teaching should take into account the context within which civil engineering students operate.

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.…”

“…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.…”

“…Taking stock, clearly the teaching and learning of project management have attracted the attention of numerous scholars within project management (see, e.g., Ashleigh, Ojiako, Chipulu, & Kai Wang, ; Bredillet, Conboy, Davidson, & Walker, ; Chipulu, Ojiako, Ashleigh, & Maguire, ; Ojiako, Ashleigh, Chipulu, & Maguire, ; Ojiako, Chipulu, Ashleigh, & Williams, ; Ramazani & Jergeas, ; Walker, ). Our choice of project management as a learning comparator was driven by earlier studies suggesting that: (1) common dimensions of pedagogy in the teaching and learning of project management ascribe their independence to specific discipline peculiarities (see Ashleigh et al, ; Chipulu et al, ; Hamilton, ; Ojiako et al, , , ), and that (2), project management skills are core to the leadership attributes of engineers as articulated by both scholarship (Hamilton, ; Wearne, ; Ojiako et al, ) and professional engineering bodies (ICE, ; IMechE, ). Table shows the various managerial and leadership competencies required for professional registration and chartered status by the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and the Engineering Council of South Africa.…”

“…In the case of project management, a number of research streams exist in teaching and learning. These include: (1) studies focused on exploring the softer skills of project management practitioners’ parameters (Pant & Baroudi, ; Clarke, ); (2) studies focused on enhancing more reflective and creative dimensions of project management practice through education and training (Sewchurran, ; Louw & Rwelamila, ); (3) studies focused on enhancing project management learning through university–industry collaboration (Collofello, ; Baldock & Chanson, ); and (4), studies focused on understanding not only the critical dimensions of students’ experiences of learning project management (Ojiako et al, ; Ashleigh et al, ), but also the relative salience of these dimensions (Chipulu et al, ; Ojiako et al, , ). This study focuses on two of these research streams: critical dimensions of students’ learning experiences and the relative salience of these dimensions.…”

Editorial

“…I admit I had to look that one up to help with my understanding of the second paper, 'Pedagogical imperatives in the teaching of project management' (Ojiako et al, 2013). The paper, written by seven academics from six universities in the UK and South Africa, will be of most interest to those responsible for teaching project management.…”