Sequential Exercises and Personal Response System in Project Management Courses

Large classes are becoming a common feature of higher education. Although the dynamics of these classes are very different from smaller classes, the learning principles are still the same. Active learning and students’ engagement provide better learning outcomes. There are strategies developed to overcome the limitations of large classes. This paper presents the result of the implementation of two teaching strategies – guided sequential exercises, and collection of instantaneous student responses. The student responses were collected through a Personal Response System (PRS). The strategies have been implemented in a large project management class. The student feedbacks have been used to investigate the effectiveness of these strategies. 323 students participated in formal surveys over four years. The results of these surveys showed that they found the teaching method very effective and the learning experience very interesting. They believed the best aspect of the course was the lecture and its interactive nature. The paper demonstrates how a conventional setting of lecture delivery can be transcended to a pleasant and effective learning experience. The sequential exercises and Personal Response System articulated in the paper can be adopted in other technical courses.