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[jumpstart]

Hello all,

I'm an educator in Ohio who is researching project management strategies for teachers to use in STEM high schools and other places where they are using project-based learning. I thought this community would be a great place to start. Can anyone point me to any articles or first-person accounts?

Many thanks,

Gary Greenberg Public Media Connect Cincinnati, Ohio email:[email protected]

[Ricardo]

Hi Gary,

I am an IT Project Manager and even though I am not a teacher, I like teaching, and after reading this article http://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-pbl-stem-thom-markham-buck-institute, I wanted to share one strategy I find useful when dealing with young 'stakeholders' not familiar with Project Management methodologies or PMI's PMBoK:

My strategy is to apply just enough basic project management principles to each one of the stages of the project.  Start with the big picture, objective and requirements, steer people away from the solution.  Then explain the concept of scope, and talk about what is in and out of scope.  Facilitate a session to create the work break down structure and depending on the size of the project, you could jump into detailed planning.  Principles of agile methodologies may be very useful and keep the interest of those involved.  Each task must have one lead, no there cannot be two leads per task.  Report on progress, review prototypes, and if possible, do at least one change request, so everyone knows what it is and how important it becomes to avoid scope creep.  And of course, try to complete the project before you run out of time.

I know this is not comprehensive and I'm skipping too many important steps and did not mention techniques to employ, but hopefully give you an idea of what I'm referring to.

I found this paper that seems to highlight useful lessons learned:
http://www.newtechnetwork.org/sites/default/files/news/researchmanagepbl.pdf

Hope that helps,

Ricardo