A logical approach to learning
Personal mastery cannot be attained by cramming.
The online Project Management Concepts course constitutes Module 2 of the Practical Certification Programme in Project Management (PCP). Many participants also use this module as their first formal step towards further study in Project Management.
The approach used in this course differs from traditional Project Management training in two important ways, as explained below.
Questions precede answers
Traditional Project Management training provides study material and/or lectures, followed by questions (often in the form of tests).
However, many studies in education show that real learning doesn’t get traction when using this method, even if simulations and case studies are used in the training.
The reason is that real life and real projects don’t run like that. Before schools and other academic institutions existed, learning was preceded by questions. The problems and challenges of life raised questions, and solving the problems required finding answers to those questions. That’s still how we learn most lessons from the day we’re born till the day we die.
In the Project Management Concepts course, we employ familiar academic tools (such as multiple choice questions), but we use them in a way that aligns with this natural way of deep learning. The questions come first, and you’re challenged to figure out the rationale behind the questions to be able to learn from them, and to think critically about the possible answers. In fact, you have to search for answers on your own, learning to discern good sources from dubious ones. You start to question the questions and defend and adapt your answers.
The method of learning from questions is brought even closer to reality in Module 3 of the PCP, where you work on your own real projects.).
For many participants, even those with university degrees, this course is their first experience of independent and critical study.
You learn how to learn
One of the significant outcomes of the course is that you develop learning habits and critical thinking skills needed for further contextual study in Project Management, and for doing remarkable work.
In the past, when Project Management was a fairly new area of study, many organisations were prepared to employ a PMP® credential holder or a PRINCE2® Practitioner based simply on these credentials and a clean employment record.
But in the global employment market, there is now a dramatic shift towards employing people who actually know how to do the job based on such standards. We see this often in online discussions, such as in the Project Management Institute’s own forum for certified Project Management Professionals. “What else should I study to make myself more marketable?” asked one PMP® who also has several other international credentials to his name.
But, as seasoned project managers pointed out to him in response, “What else should I study” isn’t actually the right question.
Once that certificate has helped you get the job, it becomes the least important paper needed to maintain your credibility. The skills that are really needed once the new-job honeymoon is over, are not gained by stacking up certificates. They are developed through the insight that comes from critical thinking, and the management of risk in real projects, with contextual, responsible reporting to stakeholders. Because projects are essentially there to solve real problems, personal mastery in real-world problem-solving is rapidly gaining ground as an employment criterion, over and above the mere ability to pass exams. And mastery cannot be crammed.
As certificates are becoming commoditised, mastery is the new scarcity.
Module 3 of the Practical Certification Programme is designed to help you build just that: critical thinking, the experience of applying standards-based processes, and contextual reporting through the skilled use of project scheduling software.
This is why the Project Management Concepts course is such an important foundation.
The study habits and critical thinking skills you acquire in Project Management Concepts will help you as a lifelong learner in pursuit of mastery.