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A Constructivist Approach to Experiential Learning in Project Management

Sometimes taking students out of the classroom means taking them to their own past experiences. I teach project management in the Creative Industries, and students in the creative industries have often spent much of their lives engaging in projects before they ever entered my classroom. Project management is ubiquitous across all industries, and the creative industries, especially, is a project-based industry as it is in the business of creating new and novel products. Therefore, the first assignment in my project management course is the start of a requirement for the application for certification to the Project Management Institute and ask them to tally the hours they have spent working on projects.

A little Constructivism and a little Experiential Learning the format requires that those hours are described by project phase, a key concept within project management methodology. By asking students to describe past project experiences using project management terminology and to reflect on what aspects of those projects they spent time on, they often choose those experiences that have had the most impact in their lives.

If there is a risk with traditional experiential learning, it is that the experience that is meant to teach the student may not be sufficiently meaningful to most impact to their learning, and there is no better real-life experience that constructivism could hope for students to draw from, in the context of project management pedagogy, than the project experiences they’ve already had. Once I have the collection of my students’ past project experiences, I also refer to them in the context of the classroom setting, further reinforcing concepts by making my students’ individual experiences a case-study, taking them beyond the classroom and then back into it.

Presenters

Enhancing Research Support through Collaboration: The Impact of the Statistical Support Specialist at TMU

The Geospatial, Map and Data Centre (GMDC) as part of the Toronto Metropolitan University Libraries system is a core research facility that provides the university’s researchers with access and support to geospatial and numeric data resources. To support this service there are four members of the GMDC team: a GIS and Map Librarian, a GIS Specialist, a Data Librarian and a Statistical Support Specialist who is the most recent addition to the team.

In this session, the presenters will discuss how the new Statistical Support Specialist position was developed and how it has complemented and enhanced the existing data services by enabling connections with a wide range of quantitative researchers on campus. As an added benefit, the Statistical Support Specialist’s strong working knowledge of GIS has enabled collaboration with the GMDC team to provide analytical support services in the domain of spatial statistics. The presenters will highlight their team collaborations to share how they are providing in class and virtual instruction and focused outreach to graduate students and faculty interested in applying geospatial and statistical analysis to their work.

Presenters

Lean, Self-Guided, Technology-Supported Learning: An Educational Approach to Enable Thriving Graduates

This session explores a hands-on, experiential learning approach used in the flagship Social Entrepreneurship & Changemaking course at TMU, led by Professor Alison Kemper. Drawing from multiple semesters of teaching experience, I will share how students take an entrepreneurial “get-out-of-the-building” approach, developing their own hypotheses, engaging with real stakeholders, and uncovering key insights, rather than relying solely on traditional learning materials such as textbooks, papers, and lectures. This method places students at the center of their own learning, requiring them to form perspectives, build relationships, and extract meaningful conclusions from real-world interactions. AI-powered tools for idea generation, project and stakeholder management, and market research can be supportive to the learning process, allowing students to streamline their research and optimize their processes. AI supports students in structuring their work while providing a foundation for more informed decision-making. Active, ongoing feedback sessions between student-student and student-instructors reinforce this process, ensuring that students continuously refine their work products. Rather than assessing students based on memorization or standardized evaluation criteria, this approach evaluates their ability to formulate hypotheses, validate ideas, synthesize feedback, and iterate on their work.

This methodology is grounded in Steve Blank’s “Lean Startup” approach, originally developed for entrepreneurs but equally applicable to student learning. The framework prioritizes iterative problem-solving, real-time feedback, and decision-making. These key skills extend beyond entrepreneurship into any discipline where adaptability and critical thinking are essential. The impact on students has been significant, facilitating the development of soft skills (communication, collaboration, delivery of constructive criticism) that are more relevant than ever in the age of AI. Students improve their ability to communicate, build relationships, think critically, challenge assumptions, and see the bigger picture by integrating various pieces of information. 

Aligned with the Teaching with Technology and Navigating an Ever-Evolving Educational Landscape stream, this approach reframes AI not as a challenge to traditional learning but as an essential tool for reinforced learning and skill development. By designing courses that embrace technology while emphasizing critical thinking, adaptability, and communication, we can ensure that students graduate with the competencies needed to thrive in an evolving workforce.

Presenters