For my capstone project in my undergraduate degree program, my class was broken up into three teams. Our assignment was to create a webpage for the university in order to generate ecological awareness and to provide helpful information on the benefits of recycling and conserving. The team deemed the winner would have their “Going Green” page displayed on the university website. Our instructor advised us that he would request meetings between various department chairs for input solicitation and that he would also request approval of our projects from the university president.
This was a major undertaking as we not only had to research techniques to improve campus conservation and design an eye catching web page, we also had to develop the code behind it, obtain project approval, then successfully pitch the finished project to different stakeholders in hopes of claiming victory for our team. We had just three months for completion. By developing a timeline that aided in keeping all team members accountable (Murphy, 1994), we were better able to coordinate efforts on critical portions of the project.
An unexpected and unavoidable blow to our timeline was the fact that two weeks into the project, our professor had a major heart attack and was unable to return for the rest of the semester. Although the remaining faculty did a good job of rotating our class into their existing schedules, the effect of not having one professor dedicated to our projects was debilitating.
As a result of the health issue, the initial meetings that were to take place between the stakeholders and our instructor never materialized resulting in the stakeholders never appreciating the full impact of what we were attempting to accomplish. Therefore we were unable to incorporate the collaborative and shared visions that was our original goal (Greer, 2010), essentially preventing us from feeling a true sense of achievement even though all teams delivered products that incorporated quality research, easy to follow instructions, and three professional looking webpages.
Now that I can reflect back on this project with a post-mortem perspective, I can see where we should have worked more diligently to complete the project in less time rather than taking it right to the deadline as this would have allowed us more time for evaluation and refinements (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). Also, we as students should have taken a more proactive role in assuring that the replacement instructors conducted the meetings with the stakeholders so that they would better understand the project and possibly have given it more consideration.
During this project, I had no knowledge of instructional design and had not yet been exposed to ADDIE, yet as the project followed its natural life cycle, I can clearly see how the functions of ADDIE prevailed. From organizing, prepping, developing and deploying the project, risk factors were evaluated and changes were then made (Allen, & Hardin, 2008).
Just before the conclusion of the semester, our original professor made a call to the class and congratulated us all on a successful project and personally thanked us for our perseverance. It was very gratifying to know that not only were our efforts appreciated, but that he would make a full recovery.
References
Allen, S., & Hardin, P. C. (2008). Developing instructional technology products using effective project management practices. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19(2), 72–97. Copyright by Springer-Verlag, New York. Used by permission via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Murphy, C. (1994). Utilizing project management techniques in the design of instructional materials. Performance & Instruction, 33(3), 9–11. Copyright by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Used by permission via the Copyright Clearance Center
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Keith,
ReplyDeleteIn this sad account, I am encouraged that your team was able to produce a product in the form of a professionally developed webpage, as you mentioned. It is unfortunate that the University was not able to recognize the full potential of the effort your fellow students expended; however, it seems that most of the issues with the project were caused by extenuating and uncommon circumstances. Post-mortem, it seems easy to blame yourself for things that were actually out of your control, and I wonder if increased proactivity would have actually made a difference in this point. I do agree that you should have maybe pressured the replacement faculty to conduct the stakeholder meetings, as a communication plan with “accurate, timely, and fact-based project information” (Allen & Hardin, 2008, p. 80) is so critical for stakeholders and the success of the project.
Chris
References
Allen, S., & Hardin, P. C. (2008). Developing instructional technology products using effective project management practices. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19(2), 72–97.
Copyright by Springer-Verlag, New York. Used by permission via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Hello Keith
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for the misfortune that occurred to your project due to illness. However, we find that this is something that cannot be helped. I see that yours worked together as a team made this project successful. I would consider yours to be dedicated team members. According to Murphy (1994) “in this setting, project team members realize that their main function, for the assigned period, is to help out the team in whatever capacity they can, whenever needed” (p. 11).
Reference
Murphy, C. (1994). Utilizing project management techniques in the design of instructional materials. Performance & Instruction, 33(3), 9–11.
Keith,
ReplyDeleteYour project experience was certainly dramatic and certainly emphasized how important it is you handle manage in all directions. Allen and Hardin (2008), page 85, talk about the three layers of stakeholders and the different types of communication needed to for each. With your professor dropping out of the project structure, I think your assessment was right on; your respective team leads needed to step in to ensure communication channels were established as well as maintained.
That the teams were still able to fulfill the project vision of your professor suggests he did a good job of setting the projects up. Hopefully he will be back teaching.
Rob
Allen, S., & Hardin, P. C. (2008). Developing Instructional Technology Products Using Effective Project Management Practices. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 19(2), 72–97.