Project Management Academic Courses In Malaysian Universities

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The importance and recognition of eLearning is growing in a rapid pace in educational fields. Nowadays, eLearning is not only practiced for the sake of distance learning but also it is becoming an essential part of traditional learning. Almost all universities make use of websites to fulfill some of their important functions such as mailing, assigning and receiving homework, quizzes, forums for feedback and reminders in order to support the learners and facilitate the education process between students and teachers. ELearning process affected the education environment in recent years. Instead of using the method of teacher-to-learner to transfer the knowledge, teachers prefer to promote the learning environment with learner-to-learner method enhanced by eLearning approach (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). Learners who are involved in online learning environment reach to a higher level of understanding of the knowledge (Wang, Poole, Harris, & Wangemann, 2001).

This research is an attempt to explore the effect of eLearning in project management courses offered in Malaysian universities and to get a practical image of its application from the educators and learners point of view.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Nowadays, eLearning is used widely as an important approach for distance education and there is a convergence between distance learning and face-to-face education. ELearning refers to use of Internet technologies to improve knowledge and performance. Learners can control over course content, the structure of course, steps and time of learning and it is available anywhere that is convenient to learners. The expression of eLearning implies to the software system that assists users in using lessons given by an instructor as well as software guides (Corrigan & Kennard, 1997).

Online learning which is known as eLearning is going to be a principal delivery method in workplace-learning settings across universities and companies. According to LeRouge and Webb (2003) the use of complex training technologies for IT staff to address time limitations, space are becoming greater. Kim, Bonk and Zeng (2005) stated that institutions spend almost 60% of their overall training expenses on eLearning. Additionally, in his study, 50% of the respondents indicated that, in 2004, e-learning was already one of the most important forms of education in organizations, while another 50% anticipated that eLearning is going to be the foremost method of training in their business by 2010 (Kramer, 2007).

The universities all around the world are going to adopt themselves to distance and online learning. Education technology uses computers based on the following classification:

- Computer-assisted instruction (CAI)

- Computer-managed instruction (CMI)

- Computer-based multimedia (CBM)

- Computer-mediated communication (CMC).

The CMC stands for computer-to-computer communication and eLearning or online learning is usually supported by CMC (Kawachi, 2005).

Advancements in telecommunication technologies together with growing in the use of internet and networked computers made e-learning to be widely known as a useful and effective means of training together with learning. Electronic learning that is also called as web-based learning or online learning is a process of studying which provides educational materials to students who are far away from classes and will be participating through the internet. This eLearning technology includes fundamental combination of tools, content of courses and services of learning into a particular method with purpose of designing, generating and delivering educational course content taking into account the effectiveness and efficiency of education. Considering the speed of understanding the knowledge and cost effective way of delivering courses, this system has turned into a significant alternate for learning in the classroom.

In order to gain success in eLearning several keys have to be considered such as use of creativity in design, management of the eLearning project and employment of the application and instructional design in the process of course content development. Project management is one of the key factors in the success of an eLearning project. Project management describes as a precise endeavor to plan and organize the step of task to achieve success in the project.

The goal of project management is to anticipate the risk and difficulties which occur during the project and how to control actions that guarantee the success of the projects. Project management starts before dedicating of the resource, and will stay up to the end of all tasks.

The majority of our task in the social order from forming a party or creating an office block, to developing a new industry can be defined as a project. Project management as an arena of study and skill is important for reaching success in organizational management. Furthermore, project management can come upon government, business, and almost all other systems of government as a formal management task.

In different project management education environments, eLearning seems to be at least as effective as traditional in which learners will be supported by teachers. Although in some cases learners do not see eLearning as replacing traditional methods of teaching but almost all of them agree that eLearning can improve the learning process. The course contents are available at any time and learners are able to read the material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and all of learners are supported by instructors. In addition, eLearning technology reduces the cost of training since students do not travel to university and they there is no need to purchase additional course resource. Project management online training assists students to share their knowledge with senior managers and during the course, learners can develop their experience of the project management.

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

At present, most of project management training courses lack capabilities to involve students with course material. E-learning technology has been developed mainly to offer learners assistance or idea of practical work and is going to be a foremost delivery technique in workplace-learning sites from corner to corner of organizations in numerous parts and of variable dimensions and help employee and students to achieve web-based communication. This model of online training considers learners as an active participant.

While the training of technical staffs is not a new challenge, measuring effectiveness and efficiency of training remains a daunting task. As Corporations and universities carry on to look for methods to reduce costs of tasks, training divisions has to be able to display what is being done to fulfill corporate objectives and profit of the company.

Online learning makes the learners to be involved more in an active style against traditional learning that instructors and students interact with each other openly at the same place and time. A great number of project management courses in the universities are face to face but E-learning systems can be a good complement to them. Students who participate in traditional training don’t have much ability to choose the process and pace of learning which is suited to their convenience and their needs. This research studies the effects of eLearning on the project management training while the students educate their online courses in Universities.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

During the course of this research and also taking into account the research problem stated above, present study tries to address the following questions. The research methods and subsequent procedure taken in this research will be determined based on research questions:

To what extent are the eLearning applications offered to cover project management course in Universities in Malaysia?

Are project management eLearning packages suitable and well-designed for students?

To what extent eLearning can improve gaining knowledge in project management training?

1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Project management online training course is a useful way to learn and put emphasis on the solving business problems through involving learners. In this course which is also linked with the case studies and the theory of project management, the level of understanding is more and learners can gain experience and apply them to the management of project problems in their own work that they are faced with. This research explores the effect of eLearning on understanding of project management. In addition, this research investigates the efficiency of applying online course to project management. The ideal aim of web-based project management training is to achieve business results. Therefore, this research tries to fulfill the following objectives which are derived from research questions mentioned above:

To explore the extent to which project management courses are offered through eLearning in Universities in Malaysia.

To examine the level of efficiency of eLearning in project management for students.

To study the effectiveness of eLearning courses for project management in enhancing the students’ knowledge.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

ELearning generally makes the access of training content easier in different areas. Teachers or instructors support students by providing feedback during their training process.

This research focuses on online training web-bases that are developed and tested in practice and are essential for universities which are looking for outcomes of effectiveness of online project management training. In addition, according to various studies, further developments for project management skills can be achieved.

In a company, for a busy employee who is involved in project, it is difficult to take time to travel away from the job in order gain knowledge on a particular issue. Online training offers a suitable and cost effective way to improve project management skills without leaving the workplace. Without considering schedule of project, economical or learning style, learners or employee can achieve essential educational requirements. The e-learning reduce the theoretical sides to the fundamental interactivity and the students are tightly faced up to problems that they have to learn to solve through various workouts and examples.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research will explore the effects of project management training course enhanced with eLearning. The targeted population of present study is Universities in Malaysia which offer project management course via eLearning. The respondents who will be given the questionnaires and will be interviewed with are the technical staff and administrative employees in charge of eLearning courses in those universities.

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF REMAINING CHAPTERS

In the first chapter the brief introduction about the concepts of survey, research problem problems and research question will be explained. In the chapter 2, the literature review will be done in detail which discusses about previous studies to clarify the subject and bring examples of researches done in this area. Chapter 3 emphases on the related methodology which this study will use and will introduce proper methods. Methods of sampling, data collection and techniques of data analysis will be introduced in this chapter. In chapter 4 Data analysis will be conducted. Finally, the conclusion of research finding will be discussed in chapter 5. Also limitations which were faced will be explained and some recommendations for future research will be offered.

1.9 CONCLUSION

Learning process lasts formally and informally during our lives and this is the essential idea behind the reputation of all-time learning (Karadeniz, 2009). Elearning technology is suitable for student in order to improve the level of understanding in organization or universities, it would be a respectable idea if organization and universities make an effort to embed resource, more practical exercise and interactivity in Elearning.

1.10 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

ELearning: E-learning includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process.

Project Management: Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals.

Distance Learning: Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom.

Knowledge Transfer: knowledge transfer is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another. Like knowledge management, knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or distribute knowledge and ensure its availability for future users.