Project Management and IT: Understanding the Significance and Tools

Context:
In this subject the students will understand the significance of project management and get introduced to the methods and tools available for managing projects, especially those related to Information Technology. They will recognise the importance of alignment of the projects with the goals and objectives of the organization and hence learn about the methods used to select the project. Throughout course delivery, students will be encouraged to present their opinions on the topics covered in each module by posting their messages on the discussion forum. Assessment 3 is intended to evaluate the responses of the students which will highlight their understanding about the topics. The discussion postings will be initiated by the facilitator as the topics are covered in each module and the students will be expected to reciprocate to the discussion questions. They will be required to present their views, either supportive (or contradicting) by considering their knowledge in the discipline, prior experience in the industry or existing published work. 

These discussions will provide immense benefit to the students as they will get an opportunity to learn from the experience and knowledge of other students and the facilitator. They will get updated with the current issues in the industry. Further, the students will get an opportunity to present their own thoughts and knowledge in the discipline, which will enhance their confidence and skill. Discussions on professional forum will increase their communication skills and academic writing skill which will have far reaching benefits in their careers. 

Besides that, the facilitator will get an opportunity to understand the background, knowledge and level of understanding of each student. This becomes more important for the online course as there is minimal face to face communication between the students and the facilitator. This will help the facilitator to evaluate the students better and provide the required support to the students. 

Hence, the students are encouraged to actively participate on the discussion post, learn from the discussions and utilise the opportunity provided to showcase their skill and knowledge in the discipline.

Instructions:
You will be required to respond back to the discussion topic posted by the facilitator by writing your opinion on the forum.

While presenting your views, you would be required to support the claims either with the relevant experience or with the published literature which may include journal articles, relevant website links, news article, magazines or text from related books. 

The views could be supporting comments or they may be a contradiction, but you need to provide appropriate justification as specified above.

If the student is referring to a published literature for supporting his views, he would be required to provide relevant reference (and citation) in the response. If the student can provide appropriate article to support his opinion, it will be valued considerably.

Along with actively participating in the discussions, it is equally important to provide responses which are relevant and add value to the discussion. The quality of response will be considered as one of the most important criteria for evaluating the students in Assessment 3.

Hence, frequency of participation and the content of the student response will be considered for marking the student for this assessment. 

For each module, the discussion topics are listed in the Table 1. These discussion topics will be initiated by the facilitator. Alternatively, they can be initiated by the students as well. The student can post other the discussion topics on the forum which they may consider relevant for the course.