This course focuses learners on aspects leading instruction and/or educational projects and of creating a project management plan. Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources for a finite period of time to accomplish specific goals and objectives. Project management at its core is a problem-solving process in which a project’s resources, human and materials, are coordinated, facilitated, and monitored through successful completion of a project. The difference between a project and other activities within an organization is that projects are temporary. As soon as project objectives are met the project is over. A project manager brings together, organizes, and manages the resources necessary to successfully complete a project. Resources may include skills and talents of a team, facilities, tools, and equipment, information, systems techniques, and money.

 

Project management phases include:

• Define (develop charter, sequence tasks, align resources to tasks and products, develop schedule)

• Plan (define project problem, goals, objectives, assumptions and risks, identify key tasks/ products)

• Organize (identify manager characteristics, organize team, define/assign work, develop work strategies)

• Control (create Gantt charts/status/communication strategies, address quality/progress/change requests)

• Close (logistics, processes) • Manage issues in project management (customer focus, changes, quality)

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​Educational Project Management is a well-defined area of practice that includes many of the same activities as project management in business settings. Project management practices are applicable to managing large, complex, and expensive projects with many team members or small individual projects completed by one or two key stakeholders and little if any additional budget.