Universities with information technology (IT) programs often include capstone project management courses in their curricula (1) to insure that students graduate with necessary IT knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes, (2) to demonstrate that students can apply the knowledge and skills learned from earlier courses to simulated projects or real projects in organizations, and (3) to prepare students for careers in the application of information systems and technology. A group of IT project management professors has been meeting over the past six months to collaborate on several proposed student IT project management events. As a result of these meetings, we became aware of the very different but innovative approaches we use to support student learning in IT project management courses. These approaches include variations of team-based project simulations, case studies, and collaborative real-life client projects.

The purpose of this panel is to explore the different and innovative approaches used in our project management courses and share their advantages, disadvantages, and lessons learned. The panel format also allows the audience to ask questions, raise potential issues, and to share their own student project management experiences.