Formation of project management skills in student joint activities in the Smartsheet service

Abstract

The problem and the aim of the study. Project thinking, the ability to work in a team to solve a socially significant task, the application of the principles of self-management are among the high requirements that are made upon modern specialists applying for employment. In addition, these over-professional competencies are fundamental to the soft skills concept. The purpose of the article is to investigate the features of the formation of these popular skills with using Smartsheet tools as a digital resource that works in a mobile format and on a PC to form these skills. Research methods. Theoretical analysis and generalization of scientific literature are used to determine the importance of project activity skills for a sought-after specialist, and the need of using digital tools in project management. The technology of collaborative learning, methods of group work (comments, conversations, providing cards, project defense) are used to engineer prompt information interaction. The experiment involved 89 students of Vyatka State University studying in the direction of training 44.03.02 Psychological and pedagogical education (bachelor's degree). The software tool is the Smartsheet service (https://app.smartsheet.com/). The Pearson's chi-squared criterion (χ2) was used as a method of statistical processing of experimental data. Results. In the experimental group, students used Smartsheet tools to export data from ready-made tables, differentiate access rights and allocate resources, track comments, add files, team introspection, and defense projects. The assessment of the levels of development of project management skills was made and statistically significant differences in the qualitative changes that occurred in the pedagogical system were revealed, χ2observ. 2 > χ2crit.0.05 (6.15 > 5.99). In conclusion the features of organizing joint activities in the Smartsheet environment for the formation of project management skills are summarized: determining the minimum necessary range of tools for mandatory use, adding elements of mini-research, comprehending the content of the task and its development options, random dividing into teams, etc.