Abstract:

The purpose of the present paper is to look at efficient ways to teach a course in Project Management to students in Translation and Interpretation, at the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Department of Foreign Languages and Interpretation. According to the perspective of the author of this paper, which is based on the experience of teaching a group of students this course during two semesters in the academic year 2023-2024, these students need a few general outlines, regarding information about how to start planning a project, choosing its aim, as well as how to develop and organize the various activities and, eventually, to be aware of time, resources, and budget constraints. Team work and collaboration are among the skills asked at the level of the European Union for education. With the occasion of this course, students have been asked to do project-based learning, collaborative learning, and to interact with their colleagues, as well as with their teacher. Practical activities were considered, by the author of this paper who has taught them, a must. This particular group of students was keen on applying the theoretical knowledge acquired during each course and to bring in their own opinions, as well as to discuss with their colleagues as part of team work. Students were taught what a project is, starting from a low scale one such as their graduation paper (starting, therefore, from a familiar ground to them), involving the students and the teacher and their collaboration function of time constraints, and then moving on to larger scale projects, such as translating a large book and dividing the chapters among translators, as well as projects involving doing interpreting for an international conference. The students have been asked what they thought their roles could be in each case: collaborators, team members, or even project managers, and what this role asked from them. Students have also been presented with project management software, and made aware that it may be very helpful in the case of large scale projects, in order to organize the activities and the team members in an efficient way. Students have been asked to simulate planning a project of their choice and to work in teams. Each team has applied the notions they have learnt to their project and presented it in class at the end. During the first semester, the course was held online, on Microsoft Teams platform, while during the second semester, the course was held face-to-face, due to the way lecture halls were available since construction work was being done at the university. The students adapted very well from online to offline and showed a good understanding of the basic notions involved in project management. They also showed a high degree of participation and engagement in class activities at all times. Due to the assimilation and practical skills of using the project management notions, which can be seen as results of the students’ class activity, we could conclude that what contributed to this state of affairs was considering the needs, as well as expectations, of the students regarding project management. At our university, periodical quality controls are done in order to ensure there is a balance between theory and practice, and the skills students gain throughout the courses and seminars.

Keywords:

Software, Constraints, Gantt chart, Risk management.