Introduction to Project Management

Being 2-3 hours a week, it's less of an actual course than a crash course workshop on project management. Even with prior project management knowledge (I previously worked as a project coordinator), I still found the course quite useful as it does reinforce a lot fo the concepts and theories I used before, and lays them out in a step to step manner. Note that the course is reliant on several frameworks on how to discuss project management such as PESTLE and the use of a WBS. This course also doesn't cover the Project Management Lifecycle - something another edX course from RITx covers. Lastly, I'd say the content doesn't quite map out to what's being used in the real world - it's all very theoretical.

Format-wise, it all feels well-organized and everything builds up as expected. One thing I found annoying more than anything is that you'd be introduced to concepts randomly during the recaps at the end of the week, without so much of an explanation. Some of these concepts are actually rather crucial, so it's a bit odd why they wouldn't introduce them as part of the main lesson. Another thing that's lacking are the knowledge checks. You'd all of a sudden get a question for a topic which was never covered, not by the written content or the video content. And some of the answers are a bit strange? There was one particular question about budgets being the approved estimates set out by the project managers only...but the question neglects the fact that the concept of adding buffers to your budget was just discussed. The reality of it is, many project budgets will always have a buffer built in - at my old role that meant a fixed percentage on top of the budget (and the estimates that form the budget itself are inflated slightly).

As far as difficulty is concerned, it's an easy course – you definitely don't need a prior background. It's not too hard to look past the course's deficiencies although if you want a more detailed course you'll be a lot better served by something different. Verification's only $50 though compared to a lot of edX's other courses so if you're more concerned about prestige on your resume, the edX option does look a lot fancier. The knowledge checks themselves feel arbitrary.

Of course if you need proper certification, the micromasters from RITx in Project Management or the Certificate in Project Management offered by UBC (online) are better options.

The format:
Short videos explain core concepts, quizzes at the end of weeks, and discussion questions spread out across the course. Scenarios are used to explain the different stages of project management (initiation, planning, execution, and closure)

My views:
The concepts are explained well but not in depth. It did not seemed to be a university course rather a workshop on project management. There is knowledge to be gained but sadly there are no readings to complement the lectures and the quizzes were very easy.

I did not understand the rationale for asking 4 lecturers to give the lectures because they were , for the most part, saying the same thing with the only difference being the different voice and face ! If the lecturers did not want to use long videos they should have used more readings to complement the course.

Finally, a peer reviewed assignment at the end asking the learners to come up with a project management plan for particular scenario would have helped fetch feedback and apply concepts.