asapm Education and Learning Section
Education and Learning Intro
As Dr. Lew Ireland, asapm President and founder likes
to say, "education is what you do, and if it works, learning is
what you get". The purpose of this part of the asapm web site is
to help you identify your Project Management (PM) education goals and
needs, then
to help you find solutions in the increasingly difficult job of achieving
your learning.
asapm 2004 Education
Director: Donna Fitzgerald
 From the Ivory Tower
The education Project Team has a busy year
planned, beginning with recruiting volunteers. Ed Barnicott has already
agreed to join us (thank you, Ed) and while I have a few more “volunteers” lined
up I’d like a Project Team of six and we don’t have it yet .
For those of you who might be interested here’s a brief peak
at what we have on the drawing board
Our first initiative is supporting the membership Project Team’s
drive to create communities of practice. A Project Management Community
of Practice is less-formal than Chapters, yet provides equal or superior
opportunities for networking and exchange of information and ideas.
PMCoP suggested meeting format
It is our goal to make sure that every PMCoP will have enough material
at hand to fully discuss a topic and share ideas. For those of you who
have looked at the Competences and knowledge factors from IPMA (International
Project Management Association, of which asapm is the US Member Affilliate)
you know they’ve
identified 28 core elements and 14 additional elements. Each one of these
topics
could
serve
as the
basis
for any number
of meetings.
So what can a newly forming PMCoP count on from its educational Project Team?
A virtual file drawer full of information. For example using element
11 – Project Closure from the US National Competence Baseline (NCB)
there are two processes that are included; the first is the commissioning
of
the
project
deliverable and it’s acceptance, and the second is the documentation
of all experience gained from the project. In the US we also tend to
focus on the administrative closure process as well. Based on that it
might be possible to choose three different topics to explore during
an evening’s conversation on Project Closure.
Using our virtual file drawer analogy we’ll offer you a list of
links to papers on the topic available on the web, suggested books, any
material donated by other asapm members and where available, extracts
from other groups who have discussed the topic.
 You
can see a sample mind map by clicking on the picture at left and get
some idea of the type of material we’re thinking about identifying.
It will be up to every group to decide what material serves the group’s
purpose and what doesn’t. Our goal is just to give each group a
starting point and then let the groups set their own agenda.
In general we assume the discussions will be fairly informal though
having someone note the ideas and suggestions on a flip chart that can
later be typed up will allow the conclusions to be shared with other
groups.
Obviously the educational Project Team can’t get all 42 topics documented
over night, especially when one topic can break down into a 10 others
but we’ll shoot for having three ready to go by September (consisting
of two from the core elements and one from the additional elements) and
then see (pending volunteers and help from our newly formed PMCoPs) if
we can keep to the schedule of adding 3 a month.
Of course nothing says that a group can’t pick their own topic
and just jump right in. It goes without saying that there are some topics
where the group members will have more expertise to share than anything
the education Project Team can find in print. I should also mention that
it we very much want to encourage the sharing of the tacit knowledge
that is only gained from experience.
As we go through the year we expect things will evolve and grow to more
closely reflect the needs of our growing membership – in the meantime
I look forward to working with all of you to facilitate some lively discussions.
—Donna
Feedback Loop Top
We want your help. What are your questions about Project Management
Learning? We'll publish articles on the questions about which we hear
the most, and include your responses to the questions, ideas and feedback.
Or, share your other ideas about how asapm can help advance
PM Learning. After all, asapm is your organization.
Volunteer to work on our initiatives, or send your
ideas about Education and Learning to us at asapm. Thanks!
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