Project management: learning by doing

The University of Waikato introduced a four -year Bachelor of Engineering with honours programme in 2000. Graduates must have the appropriate hard and soft skills to enter the profession. These soft skills include being able to function in a team environment, using individual team member's expertise, managing projects, an understanding of ethics and standards, and supervisory skills. This paper describes how senior engineering students develop project management skills by being project managers for a team of Year 1 students undertaking a design-and-build project. This gives them the opportunity to work on a 'real' project, with financial and time constraints. The process is structured to provide an effective learning environment without compromising the independence or open-ended nature of both the Year 1 and Year 4 student's experience. The senior students act solely as project mangers and are not allowed to contribute directly to the design or assembly of the project. The project management module, which is 10% of the Honours Research and Management Project in Year 4 (5% of the final year's grades), is assessed by the quality of written agendas and minutes, completing the project on time and within budget, and a reflective essay on their learning. Outcomes of assigning a project manager to each team include: Year 1 teams meeting project milestones without involving excessive supervision from academics; monitoring and encouraging participation from all team members; Year 1 students have formal contact with their older peers, who act as role models and can serve as mentors; Year 4 students gain experience and earn credit for project management; the possibility of increasing contact between Year 4 students and academic staff, with students experiencing the realities of management, teaching and mentoring in university life.