Winterfest 2017: A First Step Beyond the Classroom: Team projects, real clients and tools to manage them

Done right, a semester-long team project with a real-world client is a learning experience unlike any other offered in a classroom. For the students, a satisfactory grade is now only one measure of success; delivering a project that is useful to the client is far more meaningful and relevant to their future career. For the professor, command of the class material is essential however acting as the project manager calls upon additional knowledge and skills. This session aims to first identify the roles and responsibilities of the professor and students while working on team projects with real clients. Secondly, various tools that have been developed and tested to manage the projects, teams, and relationships with the clients will be shared.
The contents of this talk are the result of the continual learning process during 30 years of teaching Information Systems Analysis. Former students frequently return to cite this class as a pivotal experience in their education and a significant influence on their careers, which has inspired the facilitator every time she teaches this course.