Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to meet a set of goals within a particular challenge. Project management requires special attention when applied to team projects, which require everyone to be on the same page from the beginning and careful communication and coordination throughout the project.

The following activities have been researched, designed, and implemented in ESS Capstone courses to support students in brainstorming the scope of their project, setting project goals, and looking ahead to make a timeline for accomplishing the tasks of their project. Depending on course structure, the instructor may be the one setting the goals and deliverables of the project, or student teams may be involved in determining their project scope and outcome. If this is the case, the instructor should be sure to carefully review and provide feedback on each team's project plan.

The value of each activity will depend on the course, so they are presented here in a modular form to facilitate versatile application.

Module activities

What is Project Management - Mini Lecture (20 minutes)
Project Mapping - Activity (20 minutes)
Getting to know Trello - Activity (30-45+ minutes)

Module timing & logistics

Project management skills can be incorporated into capstone courses throughout the duration of a project, but will have the most impact for students when applied at the beginning of the project. The activities in this module scaffold the early stages of project management (outlining existing knowledge, collaboratively generating ideas, and project planning), and should be situated within the course to best scaffold the planning, organization, and execution of long-term projects. Activities work best when they follow team-building activities, such as those outlined in the Teamwork Module.

This module is designed for courses where teams (groups of 2 -6 students) collaborate on long-term projects. Teams should be sitting together for each activity. Some activities require students to have access to the internet via laptops or in a computer lab.

Additional Project Management Skills-Training

Additional project management skill-building activities are summarized below, by topic. Note these activities were developed and customized for use in ESS capstone courses, but they have not yet been tested in the classroom.

Additional Activities for Project Management Introduction & Idea Generation
Additional Activities for Project Planning & Monitoring
Additional Activities for Project Management Tools & Practice