Teaching Software Project Management Using Project Based Learning (PBL) and Group Projects

While not included at some institutions and relegated to 3 (minimum) hours of core coverage by the ACM / IEEE Computer Society model curriculum, project management is becoming an integral component of computer science education. The prevalence of failed software projects dictates a focus on this discipline which provides the tools and processes relevant to effective performance of software creation, research and numerous other activities. Computer science students, however, are typically users of these skills and thus benefit from a practical, hands-on-approach that emphasizes learning usable skills over management theory (which they, generally, lack the foundational knowledge for). This paper compares and contrasts three different approaches taken to given students experience with a software project and its management with three different levels of project management emphasis at the University of North Dakota. Their learning relative to pre-defined outcomes was assessed and other sources of benefit were identified.