Category Archives: PMPDP Students

Context – The DNA of Professional Learning

My School of MACE colleague and Director of the Project Management Professional Development Programme, Callum Kidd has written this guest post on how context is embedded within the DNA of good professional development programmes. He argues that PMPDP image

“Professional Learning differs from traditional approaches to learning in that it encourages us to reflect on what we already know and understand, framed in a given context. It is the context itself that will determine whether or not our actions are successful, not the ideas or theory. Once we understand the context, we are better placed to critically evaluate those ideas and determine appropriate actions. However context is an ever-changing framework. We need to develop PM professionals that not only understand the context of today, but can plan ahead for the changing context of tomorrow “ Continue reading Context – The DNA of Professional Learning

This week I have been reading……..

………“Reconstructing Project Management” by Professor Peter Morris of University College, London Reconstructig Project Management Image

I thoroughly enjoyed this wide ranging and thought provoking tome, so much so that I cracked through it in just over a week – not bad for a busy mum of two, Lecturer in the Management of Projects and part-time Doctoral Researcher.    It is written in a relaxed but academically rigorous style, and draws on Professor Morris’s long and distinguished career as an academic and practitioner of project management.  Indeed my first observation is that this book should be essential reading for any prospective student in the domain of project management.  Continue reading This week I have been reading……..

The challenges of the part-time student

I have been teaching part-time masters students in project management for a number of years now and have always been impressed by the dedication that delegates have to the course and the associated challenges of completing assignments whilst holding down a full time demanding professional role as a project manager. To date however this has been admiration from afar, with no real conception of the reality of life as a part-time student.  I have been fortunate in that all my academic studies to date both undergraduate and masters level, have been of the full-time variety, completed at a time of my life before real responsibility in the form of husband and children arrived.   Continue reading The challenges of the part-time student