Facilitating project management education through groups as systems

Project management education is currently facing several challenges to help people deal more effectively with the complexities of their future work. Students' exposure to ‘real’ project situations in which they can use, develop, and reflect on their skills as well as learn from each other has become essential and in need of further improvements. This paper presents a group-based approach to project management education which uses the notion of a ‘group’ as a system in order to develop students' individual awareness of and abilities to deal with both expected and unexpected project situations. The approach aims at nurturing and fostering students' involvement in project situations whilst challenging them to go beyond their own learning comfort zones. Reflections from our experience of using this approach in several courses in UK higher education institutions lead us to identify its benefits, different strategies that students use to respond to challenges, and new possibilities to continue improving project management education.

Research Highlights
► Review of key challenges in project management education.
► An educational approach that conceives of student groups as systems.
► Presents and articulates key educational interactions, challenges and responses.
► Proposes a typology of learning strategies used by student groups in project tasks.
► Provides insights to enhance project management education.