Project Management: An Effective Methodology of Integrating 21st Century Skills in Education System

Md. Abdullah Al Mamoon, PMP

Exponential changes taking place across the world have contributed paradigm shift in every sectors of modern civilization. One of the most visible changes is in the workplace making the employment ever more challenging than before despite of increased avenues of employment opportunities.
Whilst one of the best advantages of the changes is the creation of a changing mindset of open global job opportunities irrespective of geographical or racial inequalities, this has equally intensified the competitiveness to a large extent and has invoked ‘the survival for the fittest’ more rigorously than the past decades. Most distinctively, this new paradigm has outdated the traditional education system due to the obvious fact that the reformation of the education system in many countries like Bangladesh failed to keep pace with the global changes.

This eventually has created an enormous gap between the required knowledge and skill sets as desired by the employers and the acquired knowledge of the students particularly the university graduates through the existing conventional education system. As such, rather than a healthy beginning of a long cherished professional career after the completion of arduous academic life, fresh graduates tumble over and over for getting jobs mostly due to the mismatch in their knowledgebase and expected skill sets of the employers. And following the sequential failing endeavors of getting a job, many frustrated graduates, despite of good academic track records, get derailed and involuntarily but for the survival, indulge themselves into the terrorist or extremist activities, most frequently under the political shelter.

Some of the predominant 21^st Century skills are marked by the critical thinking and problem solving, team dynamics, creativity and innovation, collaboration, cross-cultural understanding, communications, information, and media literacy, computing and ICT literacy etc. It is a matter of fact that developing and sharpening these skills would necessitate working experiences over the years during the course of continuing professional life. But fundamental knowledge and understanding of these skills have become the most crucial prerequisite for the present-days workplace and informally marked as the ‘entry pass’ for employment in most of the prominent organizations. Hence it is now the essence of time of embedding appropriate contents and learning methodology in the education system, which would enable in harnessing the most demanding essential skills of 21^st Century.

Project Management methodology is one of the most comprehensive approach of implanting the learning objectives for developing the fundamentals of critical knowledge and skills in the education system. The enormous spectrum of project management knowledge delineates instrumental guiding practices for the students in planning and completing education including setting up the objectives and getting them ready for the professional life. For the teachers and educators, project management substantially contributes in planning the teaching methodology and delivering quality education. Even Government and Development Organizations including Non-profit Organizations can optimize the intended/desired outcomes of their charted projects and investments to a great extent by capitalizing and implementing the knowledge resources of project management.

Students at every level can benefit by leveraging the various knowledge areas like integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, and communication etc of project management for acquiring the quality and practical oriented knowledge. Both students and educators in schools, colleges and universities can use the processes like initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing of project management. These highly structured and methodical process groups prescribe globally tested and proven standards of ensuring success while remaining focused on the learning objectives.

Project Based Learning (PBL), particularly in the college and university can be introduced which would enable structured and systematic approach in the delivery and at the same time acquiring qualitative and practical oriented education. Following the PBL approach, educators would be able to conceptualize and determine the teaching objectives in alignment with the present-days workplace requirements and needs of the students rather than being traditional, plan the appropriate teaching methodology for the delivery based on the understanding capacity of students and execute the teaching as a facilitator rather than ‘spoon feed’ style for achieving the predefined objectives. PBL contributes multiple benefits to the students including a very high rate of success in acquiring real life education. Most advantageously, PBL promotes interactive learning model that drive stimulation in organizing and planning, creative thinking and innovation, decision making, team works, communications etc among the students. PBL approach would enable both educators and students in monitoring the progress of achieving the learning objectives at any stages, apply necessary corrections in case progress is not on the track and thereby radically increase the success rate while addressing the risk of failure in a timely manner. Last but not the least PBL by default, establishes a high degree of transparency and accountability that are the most important but missing parameters in the existing traditional education system.

We are living in a highly globalized and tech-savvy world having hardly any boundaries in learning and taking the challenge of cross boarder employments across any parts of the world. Unless we empower our next generations – the students at schools, colleges and universities through contemporary education system that would equip them with the demand driven skill sets of this century, they will lack behind in the global competition. Incorporation of project management methodology in the education system and Project Based Learning would be effective way forward of accelerating the process of achieving this imminent and much needed empowerment.

A modified version of this article was published in the Financial Express on May 26, 2013.

Email: abdullah.mamoon@hotmail.com