Project Management OER

Project Management

Project Management in OER Creation involves the structured planning, organizing, and managing of resources to successfully develop, produce, and deploy Open Educational Resources. It encompasses defining project goals, setting timelines, allocating resources, and coordinating team activities to ensure the creation of high-quality educational content that is freely accessible and modifiable.

Communication Management

Communication Management in OER Creation focuses on the effective exchange of information among stakeholders (faculty, students, admin, and librarians) involved in the development of Open Educational Resources. It ensures that all participants, from content creators to end users, are well-informed and engaged throughout the project lifecycle. This includes establishing clear channels for feedback, updates, and collaborative decision-making to facilitate transparency and enhance the quality and relevance of the OER produced.

Collaborative Workflow Options in OER

Workflow & Documentation Options

Living and Static Documents

In OER projects, there is a critical clarification to be made between using living documents, which are continuously updated and evolved, and static documents, which remain unchanged after their initial completion. Living documents are essential for creating open educational resources that need to be updated with new knowledge, subject expertise and standards, as they allow for ongoing modifications and enhancements.

Hybrid Approach: Static Master with Living Documents: The OER Way

A common hybrid approach in OER involves maintaining a static master document that serves as the definitive version of the resource, supplemented by multiple living documents where real-time updates are made. This "master list" is hyperlinked out to all living documents, and acts as a central repository for tracking progress and housing all elements of your project. This structure helps manage the complexity of having multiple active documents by linking them back to a central, unchanging reference point with the defined scope and vision of the project.

Communication Management in Collaborative Workflows

Effective communication management is crucial to prevent duplication of efforts and ensure clarity in role assignments. This includes establishing clear protocols for updates and version control. Regular, structured communications help synchronize the parallel efforts of team members, making sure everyone is aligned and informed. If working in parallel communication becomes even more paramount.

Workflow Models: Parallel vs. Sequential

Parallel workflows allow multiple contributors to work simultaneously on different components of a project, which can significantly speed up the project timeline. However, this method requires robust coordination to integrate the disparate efforts effectively. On the other hand, sequential workflows, where tasks are completed one after the other, may slow down the project but are beneficial for reducing confusion and ensuring a smooth progression of tasks. If we are working to expedite the OER process for condensed timelines, parallel work will be essential but also requires more intense clear communication management.

Challenges of Parallel Work on Multiple Documents

Managing communication becomes increasingly complex but crucial when multiple living documents are updated in parallel. Tools that support real-time editing and version control are vital in this context. Regular updates and clear documentation of changes are necessary to keep all team members aligned. For example, Google Documents updates in real time, but Microsoft Documents, while having a similar feature, often has additional security that logs you out, or doesn't update at the same time, and when you send the link, often we end up downloading a copy or version of the document to our computer rather than working on a shared document like we thought.

Risks of Deviating from Established Protocols

Collaborative workflows can falter if individuals work outside the agreed framework. Such deviations can lead to inconsistencies, redundant work, and misalignment with project objectives, ultimately undermining the efficiency and collaborative nature of the project. It's essential that all team members understand and commit to the established workflows and communication strategies.

These structured sections should help clarify the various aspects of collaborative workflows in OER projects, making the information easier to navigate and understand.

Recommendations for Workflow Example

Agree on the scope, timeline, and roles in the group.
Necessary Roles:
- Main Author/Subject Expert(s) who will do bulk of content editing, curation and authoring. These are the people who will usually be using the resource to teach, have a masters or higher in that subject area.
- OER Librarian: will check attributions, act as facilitator, find OER content when available, provide information science expertise and support, usually this person will have a masters in information science, an understanding of end user behaviors, accessibility and project management. Usually this role will act as the project manager.
- Copy Editors: Can be a role divided among the above roles, or a separate role, this role goes through and looks at formatting, headings, can add images, alt text, accessibility and end user testing.
Build a comprehensive table of contents for your OER that will act as your outline and master list.
- If Remixing, link out all OER resources that will be used in this table of contents: This can be referred to as your OER Map.
- If authoring from scratch, make subheadings of every single topic you will cover in an extensive outline and list resources you might use to author.
Decide on a Static Master List Document, I recommend a Google Site, with all the information above.
Decide on the living documents- where you will actually author, edit, remix content. I recommend using pages from that same Google Site, so it is all combined in one interface and have different team members assigned to different pages, each page relates to one chapter. However if your team is not a fan of Google Sites, then Google Documents or using the LibreText Remixer tool are your best bet. Some faculty might want to do a different google document for every chapter, make sure you have all of these listed and linked out in your master static document.
Decide on parallel or sequential workflow models
Establish a projected timeline, soft deadlines and hard deadlines. Include peer review time if there are multiple faculty working on the same OER.

Project Management Key Terms

Here's a list of key terms commonly used in project management along with their definitions:

Scope: Defines the boundaries of the project, including what is to be accomplished and what is not included. It sets the stage for defining the tasks and deliverables of the project.
Baseline: The approved version of a work product that includes identified scope, schedule, and cost for a project. A baseline is used to measure the performance of the project.
Milestone: A significant event in the project, usually marking the completion of a key phase of work. Milestones are used as a checkpoint to review progress and align expectations.
Gantt Chart: A visual timeline that illustrates the start and finish dates of the elements of a project. It is often used for planning and scheduling resources, tasks, and milestones.
Critical Path: The sequence of stages determining the minimum time needed to complete a project, where any delay in any stage will cause the whole project to be delayed.
Stakeholder: Any individual, group, or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project.
Risk Management: The systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It includes maximizing the probability and consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of adverse events to project objectives.
Resource Allocation: The process of assigning and managing assets in a manner that supports an organization’s strategic goals. In project management, this often refers to human, financial, technological, and natural resources.
Deliverable: Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that is required to be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.
Project Charter: A document that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
Sprint: Used in Agile project management, a sprint is a set period during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review.
Agile: A methodology that promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the project lifecycle of the project. Agile advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continual improvement, and it encourages flexible responses to change.
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): A hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.
Earned Value Management (EVM): A project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. EVM combines measurements of project scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Specific, measurable elements of a project that are used to gauge the progress of the project against its strategic objectives. KPIs help in decision-making and signal if corrective actions are needed.
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM): A method of planning and managing projects that emphasizes the resources required to execute project tasks. It involves managing buffer times and resources to ensure project delivery within time and budget constraints.
Scope Creep: Refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in a project’s scope, at any point after the project begins. This can occur due to poor project management, miscommunication, or lack of proper stakeholder engagement.
PERT Chart (Program Evaluation and Review Technique): A statistical tool used in project management designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project. It helps in identifying the minimum time needed to complete the total project.
Resource Leveling: A technique in project management that is used to examine unbalanced use of resources (usually personnel or equipment) over time, and for resolving over-allocations or conflicts of resource capacity.
Dashboards: Visual representations of a project's key performance data, which can include current status of KPIs, progress reports, and other critical data points, all aimed at enabling quick decision-making and management overview.
Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Cost Performance Index (CPI): Both are earned value management calculations; SPI measures the efficiency of time usage per the project schedule, while CPI measures the cost efficiency of budgeted resources.
Change Management: The process, tools, and techniques to manage the people side of change to achieve the required business outcome. It involves the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools, and resources to deal with change.
Kanban: A visual workflow management method that is used to define, manage, and improve services that deliver knowledge work. It helps visualize work, maximize efficiency, and improve continuously.

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Project Management OER