Title: Technical Project Management Course for Engineering Technology Students
Abstract: Abstract Industrial Engineering Technology curriculum generally provides wide spread knowledge in problem solving, management of resources, and process planning. Project Management is a key skill required by Engineering Technologists, who work in project-driven manufacturing companies. Thus, it is imperative to prepare graduates of engineering technology programs to include a course on project management. An Industry Advisory Council for a university in Louisiana expressed the need for project management trained graduates, and worked with the department faculty to develop a course on technical project management. The developed course will be offered as part of a new post-baccalaureate certificate program at the university. This paper discusses the development of a project management course tailored to Engineering Technology. It starts by identifying the need for project management knowledge and skills. After that it discusses the key components for project management body of knowledge as identified by the Project Management Institute. These components led to identifying relevant course topics to include: Introduction to Project Management, Engineering Economic Analysis, Project Selection, Project Organization, Project Scheduling, Resource Management, and Project Control. It confers efforts related to identifying a suitable textbook, and challenges faced in incorporating hands-on activities in course content. The developed course combines traditional lectures with case studies and places equal emphasis on theory and applications for project management. Furthermore, the developed course will be used for instructing project management face-to-face and online, hence the paper discusses adaptations of content to facilitate delivery in these different environments. The paper concludes by providing directions for future development of the course.