Description
This online course introduces learners to the basics of project management. Throughout six segments, learners will practice the foundational skills of project management, consider the ethics involved in leading a team, and explore similarities and contrasts between Agile and Waterfall project management methodologies. The self-paced course offers an assortment of interactive exercises, videos, selected readings, case studies, and self-assessments that engage students and provide opportunities to practice project management skills.
Topics covered in the course:
- Managing Real World Projects
- This course presents a streamlined approach to project management based on the best practices of experienced, effective project managers. It cuts through the clutter and focuses on the key principles of project management in the real world, offering tools and techniques for achieving project success. This course provides a clear road map for leading a project through the five key project stages: Initiating, Planning, Controlling, Executing and Closing. You’ll be exposed to the basic tools employed in each of these stages, including templates for a comprehensive project plan, work breakdown schedules, task list, issue list, risk register and close-out documents. Each stage is illustrated by examples and video commentary by project management professionals, where you can see how best practices are applied to solve project challenges.
- Project Management Team Leadership
- This course covers the roles and responsibilities of the project management team leader, in particular, their responsibility with regard to project stakeholders. The course also discusses how project management team leaders can build a positive team environment through effective communication, team building activities, problem-solving, and reflective listening.
- Ethics for Project Managers
- Business ethics represent the standards for right and wrong that govern how business people act. The term also refers to the study of moral principles in the workplace. This course reviews the major ethical issues facing project managers. It looks at the specific challenges project leaders may confront as they deal with team members, vendors, stakeholders, and sponsors.
- Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers
- Emotional intelligence (EI) is our ability to identify and control our emotions to achieve positive outcomes in our relationships. Project managers with high EI are better equipped to deal with team members, vendors, stakeholders, and sponsors and to handle and resolve conflicts. This course reviews the underlying concepts of emotional intelligence and explores how project managers can improve, and make use, of their emotional intelligence.
- Effectively Managing Project Stakeholders
- This online course is created to help project managers understand and resolve issues that can emerge from interactions among project stakeholders. The course contains ten concise case studies that explore common stakeholder issues. The case studies are designed to simulate the conversations and interactions that occur among project stakeholders, to show learners how to dissect causal elements from these types of conversations – just as they will have to do on their own projects&mdash – to help them prepare appropriate responses. As students work through the case studies, they’ll learn effective strategies to resolve stakeholder problems and gain the proficiency necessary to manage interactions and keep their projects on track.
- Integrating Agile into a Waterfall Environment
- This intermediate-level course is designed to help Agile practitioners recognize and resolve many of the common issues that emerge when Agile concepts are introduced into Waterfall organizations. The course begins with 24 video segments from seasoned Agile trainers and practitioners who provide tips and best practices for addressing integration obstacles. The course then presents 20 short case studies that simulate the communication and interchanges that can occur as Agile and Waterfall practitioners work to resolve differences in the ways that they see and execute tasks. As students evaluate these case studies, they’ll learn to deconstruct and diagnose any underlying problems that need to be resolved, just as they would in everyday practice. While they work to decode and correct these issues, they’ll begin to recognize the common pitfalls that can happen as project teams collaborate and interact.
Notes
This course has been evaluated by The American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT®) with a recommendation of 3 credits, lower division, in project management or fundamentals of project management.
