An information and communication technologies–based framework for enhancing project management education through competence assessment and development

Abstract

Advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) have had a great impact on ways of working and communicating across all industrial sectors, including education. However, the education sector has been lacking adoption of potentially key technologies that can help improve delivery of modules and the overall learning experience of students. This research aims at addressing the important problem of understanding the strengths, weaknesses, current competences, and existing soft skills of new Masters of Science students starting a course on Project Management. This information is important for instructors as they can adapt and optimize delivery of such modules, enhance the overall learning experience, and assist the module leader in enhancing content. Also this information is not readily available to module leaders, and these competencies and skills cannot be assessed by traditional academic means. To address this problem a new process is proposed that uses an ICT system called Cycloid as its “backbone.” This article describes a new process and demonstrates it in a practical application. This is done through a study involving a number of students at the School of Engineering and Design at Brunel University who took the course during the 2007–2008 academic year. The aim of the study was to assess and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed process. Results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed process for implementation in higher education.