About Study Group Meetings

Originally scheduled to happen only from 18 April to 12 May 2021, Tania Melnyczuk has now extended the informal weekly Study Group Meetings in Google Meet for participants in the online Project Management Concepts course.

You are welcome to join these valuable learning sessions if…

• You’re on the course right now. What to do
• You enrol for the course. What to do
• You paused your studies earlier this year, and you’re ready to continue. What to do
• You sent in your List of Terms before the exam, and you’re waiting for input. What to do
• You put your studies on hold before 2021 and you’d like to get back in. What to do
• You completed the course this year and you’d like to get the added benefit. What to do

The basics

Like a class, each meeting addresses a different topic. The topic presented on a Sunday afternoon is repeated the following Wednesday evening. Part of each meeting is devoted to discussion. This means that unlike a formal lecture, we may not cover precisely the same content every time. If you want to entrench your learning better, you may want to attend both meetings on the same topic.

Each meeting is approx. 45 minutes long, but you are welcome to stay on afterwards to chat to other participants.

As a participipant in the Project Management Concepts course, you can attend as many or as few meetings as you like.

When?

Sundays 16:00-17:00
Wednesdays 19:00-20:00

Why?

Some of the benefits of the meetings are:

• Explore solutions to real-world problems that arise from the course.
• Get expert guidance on developing your Project Management skills and build your capability and recognition.
• Meet potential study buddies and business contacts.
• Get solid on concepts that got you stuck in the course.
• Get tips on how to make the course work for you and how to prepare for the exam.

Topics

Meetings centre around some of the more challenging concepts that come up in the course, such as project scheduling concepts (WBS, network diagram, Gantt chart), the Rule for Risk, Project Management standards and methods and how they deal differently with authority structures, and making your List of Terms work for you in the course and beyond. We even introduce the important subject of Project Cost Management, which doesn’t get a great deal of attention in the course content. The first meeting will be about concepts related to scheduling. See the upcoming topic.

How much does it cost?

If you’re already on the course, there is no fee, but it will cost focused participation to get the full value from these professionally-led meetings. If you’re not currently on the course, you’ll need to book and pay for the course (R3,910 incl. VAT); or if you’ve paused your studies prior to 2021, a reinstatement fee is payable. You will need to commence your course activities as soon as possible to be able to participate meaningfully.

Setting up to join the meetings

The meetings are held in Google Meet. If you haven’t used Google Meet before, read our page on how to prepare.

Preparing to learn

If you are currently on the Project Management Concepts course, you don’t need to do any additional preparation, other than coming well-rested, alert and ready to take notes.

If you’ve taken a break from your studies, we suggest that you start working through the test series again, getting your List of Terms up to date.

At the start of every meeting, we’ll ask for a volunteer chat monitor to periodically read out participants’ questions and comments.

Some meetings may be harder to follow if you have not yet completed the relevant test series. However, participating in a meeting before a test series also has the benefit of giving you the context to make more sense of what you’re reading. In short, you are free to join any of the Study Group Meetings.

The meetings will not be recorded for replay.

How to join the Study Group Meetings

If you’re on the course right now

• Look out for the weekly invitations in your regular course mail. The first one will be sent on Thursday 15 April.

If you enrol

• Book for the course and complete the preparatory activities which we’ll send by mail. Once you’ve paid your invoice (R3,910 incl. VAT), you can begin your studies. You’ll receive the Study Group Meeting invitations along with other participants.

If you paused your studies earlier this year

• Mail us (or fill in our message form) to say you’d like to continue, so that we can send you the next tasks and your weekly invitations.

If put your studies on hold before 2021, and you’d like to get back in

• Mail us (or fill in our message form) to ask that we reinstate you. You don’t have to pay for the whole course again. The reinstatement is R897.00 incl. VAT, and once you’ve paid, we’ll send you the same updates and additional guidance which new participants receive.

If you sent us your List of Terms before scheduling your exam and you’re waiting for a response

• You’re our priority! We’ll send you every invitation.

You completed the course in 2021 and you’d like to get the added benefit

• Mail us (or fill in our message form) to let you know you’d like to be invited.