Peer Review

Project Management for Instructional Designers

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Feb 10, 2022 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

Project Management for Instructional Designers (PM4ID) is – as the name suggests – a book about project management tailored specifically for instructional designers. This book is a revise / remix of a pre-existing, openly licensed project management textbook which was donated to the commons by a benefactor that desires to be attributed as Anonymous. PM4ID includes many new features and improvements to the original book, including: Alignment of book chapters with the PMBOK, which supports readers in preparing for the Project Management Professional certification, A series of video cases of project managers working in the instructional design area, integrated into every chapter, Multiple versions of the book, including HTML, PDF, ePub, Kindle, and a text-to-speech mp3 audio version of the book, New examples written specifically for readers coming from the instructional design perspective, and more.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

This is recommended as a primary text, a supplemental text, for in class or homework, individual or team study and as lecture material, and for professional development.

Technical Requirements:

Google Chrome Version 96.0.4664.110

Adobe Reader

Mozilla Firefox 95.0.1

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Identify the Project Management Institute’s definition of project management.
Analyze and evaluate the role of client expectationsin a project.
Define project scope.
Describe two defining characteristics of a project.
Understand project levels and organizationpriorities.
Describe the organizational options for managingprojects.

Target Student Population:

This can be targeted to upper-level undergraduate, graduate-level or as a supplement to graduate-level project management courses.
Can also be used for professional purposes for those interested in project management techniques, instructional technology, and application.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

The user needs to have a basic understanding of what project management is but does not necessarily need to know project management, as this textbook is an introductory level. The user should know how to download PDF documents and use a browser.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

This e-book is quite comprehensive in its coverage of matters and issues related to Project Management;
The content is organized in a roughly chronological pattern, corresponding to the order in which one will likely be called on to use the principles in this book. However, all of the information can be applied in any stage of a project;
Each chapter has an Overview section that introduces the chapter topic and references the PMP and CAPM exam areas that correlate.
Each chapter sections contain Learning Objectives, Glossary words, Example scenarios, and Key Takeaways which summarize the learning objective information.
Examples of applications are provided in the text

Concerns:

This text is very detailed and includes many of the different considerations necessary for managing instructional design projects. This text is almost too comprehensive and maybe a condensed version would be preferable;
The DARNALL-PRESTON COMPLEXITY INDEX is strongly mentioned and is used as a guide, however, it might not be a tool of choice for some;
It is tailored to the waterfall PM methodology as opposed to the more current methodology of Agile and Hyper Agile. Waterfall is great for infrastructure projects and such, but not well suited to IT and learning design applications that are less linear.
It is somewhat dated, including example videos

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This e-book covers the subject very well with sections that cover all aspects of project management from the initiation of the project through closure. It presents a good general-purpose definition;
Most of the information in the book is informative and up-to-date. The information is current and covers essential Project Management principles such as planning, scheduling, budgeting would apply in most situations regardless of when and where the instructor would be teaching.
The book does an effective integration of project management and the focus and skills needed for instructional design
Photographs are provided in the chapters of different activities
Key takeaways are available at the end of the chapters

Concerns:

Chapter 6 is called "Communication Technologies" but some of the information contained therein is already out of date. One of the most widely-used software tools for project communication is not mentioned once but emphasis is given to discussing things like RSS Feeds and SMS Text-Messages as viable communication tools.
The use of Flash for presenting video is outdated since Flash has been deprecated by Adobe and abandoned by almost all modern video platforms in favor of HTML5.
Photographs need explanations so readers can tell what is being demonstrated

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The book is highly consistent throughout each chapter and when viewed as a whole. Each chapter follows a similar format, and each chapter opens and closes with information and summaries that neatly bookend the text contained therein. Each chapter is unique but feels like an indelible part of a cohesive whole, in terms of terminology and structure;
Textbook interface is fine, and no issues with navigation problems, distortion of text,

Concerns:

Some chapters feel like they are poorly placed (i.e. Chapter 7). On the other hand, it seems odd that the authors did not more closely follow the Ten Knowledge Areas of Project Management that are clearly delineated in the PMBOK;
The book could use some updates. While stories about paste-up artists were nostalgic. nonetheless, school-aged readers might struggle to understand.
This is based on the waterfall method in project management, this is a bit outdated because now most approaches are Agile.

Other Issues and Comments:: For the purposes of this review, chapter 1 was reviewed (multiple sections are included).
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