Teaching Effectiveness and Efficiency in Project Management: A SIMPROJECT Approach

SIMPROJECTTM is a useful simulation tool structured to follow the project lifecycle aiding students in understanding how projects are managed. In practice, students learn to conceptualize, plan, execute, and terminate projects during the entire project life cycle. In reality, students lack an appreciation of the importance of planning and how to evaluate project information. While, SIMPROJECTTM provides much of the information required to conceptualize the simulated project, a series of systematic exercises was developed to augment the planning needed to execute and finally terminate projects within the context of the simulation. This workshop provides a series of 7 pre-emptive exercises prior to starting a simulation and Excel worksheets helpful to students in understanding the effectiveness and efficiency measures needed to develop a successful project plan. Results suggest that students leave the course with a better understanding of the importance of planning, evaluating their plan, and monitoring their plan as SIMPROJECT is executed.