Teaching project management using project-action learning (PAL) games: A case involving engineering management students in Hong Kong

Kris My Law

doi:10.1177/1847979019828570

Abstract

How to educate project management (PM) professionals has always been a topic for debate, and it remains popular to discuss the teaching and learning of PM within higher education sector. Learning approaches such as action learning and game-based learning are proven effective in enhancing students’ participation and motivation. Game-action learning (GAL) offers an attractive and challenging learning environment for students to learn and apply, in specific problem scenarios. GAL supports a better understanding of the importance of critical concepts and fills the teaching gaps. This article presents a game-based action learning (GAL) approach in simulating a new product development project, which can be adopted in an short intensive course or a semester long subject. In this article, reflections from the instructor’s perspective are presented to offer a good reference for educators who are keen on using GAL in PM teaching.

Highlights

Project management (PM) is clearly important in organizations, and project managers are often the key persons dealing with complex realities.[1,2,3] They are the generalists dealing with all the relevant tasks in a project setting, leading the project teams toward the objectives, striving for adequate resources and quality
These include Geist and Myers,[5] who suggested the best practice in PM teaching and learning by combining practical activities and theoretical teaching and learning approaches
The PM action learning game was inspired by a game used in an operation management subject,[29] that was primarily developed for students to develop the skills required in operation optimization

Summary

Introduction

Project management (PM) is clearly important in organizations, and project managers are often the key persons dealing with complex realities.[1,2,3] They are the generalists dealing with all the relevant tasks in a project setting, leading the project teams toward the objectives, striving for adequate resources and quality. The growing interest in the teaching of PM is due to several reasons, such as the acceptance of the need to enrich PM scholarship, changes in the conceptualization of PM, and the need to propose effective approaches to transform project managers into reflective practitioners.[1,3] A number of scholars have been working on the imperatives associated with the teaching and learning of PM. These include Geist and Myers,[5] who suggested the best practice in PM teaching and learning by combining practical activities and theoretical teaching and learning approaches

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Conclusion