Sunday, September 15, 2013

The things we learn in Undergrad...



Back in undergrad our class was assigned to design a lesson plan that utilized technology.  The big ideas were up to us as an individual group, but we had to choose from several different objectives. Once our projects were completed we had to present them to the class and teach the class full of college students the lesson and allow them to use the technology based instruction that we created.

What a disaster this was.  Our group had a great idea in theory but none of us had enough technological knowledge to put it in play the way we had envisioned it.  Add to that the fact that several of our group members commuted to class and lived an hour away and were unwilling to meet up on campus to get anything done together. Given our situation we divided up the tasks, where obviously in order for the project to come together and be successful the pieces needed to fit back together in the end.  In the end, it did not work even close to the way we had imagined. The game we put together did not have a specific theme throughout, even with font and graphics. Some group members did an awesome job while others just threw things together.  Our presentation was all over the place because we weren’t aware of what the other group members had done (the ones that refused to meet outside of class), add in the fact that some group members did not complete their section at all.  Overall it was an embarrassment to stand in front of the class that day.  Thankfully the professor graded the project individually so those of us that did participate and met outside of class time did not receive a failing grade, but it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth about group work in a college setting from there on out.

There are a lot of things I know now that I wish I knew then, that lovely hind sight being 20/20.  I think the biggest thing that we are learning about being a PM that would have helped this project be more successful is the selection of team members and the role of those members.  If we would have talked a little bit more before actually assigning different sections of the project we would have realized that a few group members were going to be a problem and we could have assigned those people smaller portions that would have been easier to fix when not done properly.  Murphy says it the best when stating “The selection of an appropriate project team is crucial to meeting the goals of the program.” (Murphy, 1994, pg. 9).   He also talks about how there should be three to eight members with distinct roles including project manager, instructional designers, subject matter experts, end user, and an instructor. (Murphy, 1994).  Obviously for my particular situation we would have had all these jobs, but I really think it would have made a huge difference if we had a project manager and a couple people that were able to meet on campus be the instructional designers. From there jobs could have been delegated to those that could not meet but it would have been way more organized because the several people that were able to meet would have one theme going and be able to get the others on board with an organized plan. It would have also been helpful to comb the group to see if anyone felt comfortable with the technology and could serve as a SME.  

Being more organized in the beginning and forming roles for certain people rather than just cutting the project into sections could have saved our group a lot of stress.  It would have also given us the chance to have put together a better product, and been able to have fun with it.

Resources
Murphy, C. (1994). Utilizing project management techniques in the design of instructional materials. Performance & Instruction, 33(3), 9--11.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Stephanie,

    I think we all have been there before. Hind sight really is 20/20. It's very true that selecting and forming your team is one of the most important steps in the process of building a project. If you forget someone after the project starts, you can expect scope creep to set you back timeline-wise and budget-wise.

    I have experience, with a recent volunteer project, with the frustration of not being on the same page with all the members of a team. I worked hard to create a map for a festival event, taking time out of my day to make sure I knew exactly which vendors and entertainment events and games would be involved in the festival. I even showed up in person to confirm that I was doing everything right.

    I created different versions of the map as I received updates, sending each one to my PM. In the end, they printed an older version of the map. This probably wouldn't have happened if we had met in person a last time before kicking off the event, which goes to show that those in-person meetings really should be non-negotiable. If you don't make sure everyone is on the same page, you can't guarantee the quality of your end results.

    Thanks for your post,
    ~Amanda

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