Computer-Aided Learning of Project Planning Within a Constructivist Framework

Constructivism is a theory of how learners come to know. Over the past decade science educators have increasingly adopted a constructivist approach to teaching and this approach could be equally valid to the teaching of computing. This paper describes results of a survey of 45 students studying a project management course for a Graduate Diploma of Business Computing. A simple computer based (Excel) tool has been created that allows students to undertake resource planning in a project situation, and gain planning experience from seeing immediately the results of their decision making. Although computer based, this project management tool has eliminated the complexity of fully featured computer project planning software. Its approach is to concentrate on the resources management aspect of project planning, and through its operations ensure students experience the dynamic nature of resource planning. The tool was used with constructivism as a referent. The results of the