When designing the first module on project management, I had multiple factors I kept in mind. First, to make the module stand out among other project management courses available for free on the Internet, its content must be strongly linked to the target learners i.e. the Sangguniang Kabataan council members. Second, the learning activities should possess elements of Constructivism, emphasizing learner-centeredness and learner-learner interactions. Third, the layout of the module should follow Lamb’s (2005) guidelines on designing and developing printed instructional materials. These guidelines include the proper use of headings and subheadings, typography, and visuals. I strongly followed these guidelines in the design of the first module.

This module is sized 8.5 x 11 inches and discusses a project’s characteristics, its life cycles, types of constraints, and the inter- and intrapersonal skills necessary to facilitate and manage a project.

The primary reference material for this module is an Open Educational Resource titled "Project Management - Second Edition" by Watt (n.d.). The OER is licensed under CC BY 4.0 International which grants open access to redistribute and remix the material as long as the original author is attributed and no additional restrictions are applied that interfere with others' use of it ("Attribution 4.0 International," n.d.).

The module begins with a brief introduction of the topic “Introduction to Project Management” and its connection to the target learners’ roles and duties as SK council members. The learning objectives were also clearly stated to convey the module’s purpose, expectations, and activities to the learners. They also serve as pillars of the module’s design as they provide structure to the practices and assessments that will be used later (Orr et al, 2021). For example, the spiral progression of the LOs from lower to higher-order thinking skills per Bloom’s taxonomy guides the users of the module into consuming simple bits of the lesson into more complex ones.

The first section of the discussion defined the term “Project” and used actual SK projects as examples. The following enrichment activity builds on this connection of SK in project management by encouraging the learners to recall the projects they participated in before and during their SK roles.

Visuals were also used to support the textual discussion in the form of diagrams and videos. This is to address the inclination of the learners toward visual learning as revealed in the learner analysis.

Additionally, to meet their preference for both individual and group tasks, the activities inside the module are a combination of both. For instance, Enrichment Activity 1 probes for individual answers to the questions, while Enrichment Activity 4 is a discussion forum activity done in groups. This is to allow the learners to take the lead in the discussion and provide them with opportunities to work collaboratively— a working setup that is crucial both in project management and in being an SK council member. These activities will be done in the online platform Padlet where learners will respond to the questions set for the activity, and post their answers on the forum and bulletin boards.

In terms of layout, headings, and subheadings were used to guide the attention of the learners. A single font family i.e. Sans Serif (Arial) was used throughout the module for consistency, while the font size of the body of the text is at 12pt to ensure readability. Moreover, the pages have enough white space to let textual and graphic elements “breathe” and reduce clutter. Visuals were also used to bring life to the material and were carefully selected and placed according to their relevance and usefulness so as not to cause distraction from the actual purpose of the material. Pull quotes were also included as another form of graphics that direct readers' attention to a page. There are several of them in the module which holds bite-sized texts taken from the body.

Changes I Did

However, after evaluation from the content expert and the feedback I received from the Townhall presentation, from which I reflected deeply on my ejournal (see ejournal 5), I made several major changes in the design and content of this module. Looking back at it now, the initial design looks dull because it was text-heavy. It is also lacking in assessment methods which makes measuring the learners' mastery of concepts impossible. I solved these issues by doing the following steps:

First, I added richer visual properties starting from the cover down to the diagrams, pictures, and activities. I also stuck to a color scheme for uniformity and to make the diagrams more consistent with the module cover. I chose the color blue as a nod to the color palette of the Sangguniang Kabataan logo. The following modules also follow this.

This improvement in the visual elements of the module's design came from Sir Ley's comment on making the design more aligned with my target learners i.e. youth. This also further addresses the visual learning preferences of my target learners as shown by the learner analysis.

Other things I added to the module are formative and summative assessments that were missing in the initial module design. A pre-test with a combination of multiple-choice and True or False questions was added to measure the learners' prior knowledge of the module's topic. Meanwhile, the summative assessment takes on a more alternative assessment approach with the addition of written answers and a brief essay that encourages learners to reflect on what they have learned. This type of assessment can give us a broader and more genuine look at learners' understanding and how they apply the concepts they learned to a particular context (Kwako, 2003).

They are also provided a rubric for the essay to guide them in their writing and an answer key for self-checking.

The module is 24 pages long and an estimate of 1-2 hours will be required to finish it through self-study, including all activities inside it. Using the module, the learners can enrich their knowledge of a project, its life cycles, constraints, and required skills which can help address the issue of task division and time management among their council.

Project Management Module 1.pdf

References:

Attribution 4.0 International. (n.d.). Creative Commons. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Kwako, J. (2003). A brief summary of traditional and alternative assessment in the college classroom. Unpublished manuscript, Madison, WI.

Lamb, A. (2005). Designing & developing resources: Print materials (Chap 7). In Building tree houses for learning: Technology in today's classrooms, 243 – 272

Orr, R. B., Csikari, M. M., Freeman, S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2021). Writing and Using Learning Objectives. CBE Life Sciences Education, 21(3). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.22-04-0073

Watt, A. (n.d.). Project Management - 2nd Edition. BC Campus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/

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Changes I Did

Get in touch at ajfujino@up.edu.ph