BAPD3000 Dynamic Project Leadership Course description

Design Office is collaborative project across all three years of the BA programme. For Year 3 this entails leadership, forging teams of 2-4 participants in order to manage around 6-10 first and second year students. Each group is assigned a brief from a real world client. The management teams are responsible for ensuring that all team efforts are optimised, and that assignments are carried out and presented according to the expectations and terms that are agreed with their respective clients.

Knowledge equivalent to having passed the first, second and third semesters, or equivalent.

After completing this module, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student masters dynamic project management, including

• project planning
• budget management
• working as part a project team
• client management
• overcoming creative obstacles

Skills

The student is capable of

• coordinating and communicating their own project
• managing and assessing the project’s finances
• project management including delegation of tasks and responsibilities in accordance with the skill-sets present in each team
• conflict management
• client handling

Competence

The student is capable of:

• managing and communicating a design project that respects ethics and privacy regulations
• understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their project
• reflecting over their own learning processes and making necessary adjustments in response to tutelage
• leading innovation processes in design
• contributing to sustainable design solutions

Students will be taught different methods of project management and challenges that typically arise in project work. The work shall culminate in a project report describing the processual stages and solutions of their client project. Level 3 students act as project managers in each group.

For exchange students joining the course without prior experience of the dynamics of this collaborative project, it may be desirable that these act as external consultants. How might international perspectives and insights from other cultures be applied to successfully meet design challenges?

The following coursework is carried out by the group leaders, is compulsory and must be approved before students can take the exam:

• A written assignment relating to the group's report outlining client and project demands.
• A written reflection note on project implementation, to be submitted before the oral exam.

Oral presentation in groups where all group members contribute.

The presentation should demonstrate that students are familiar with project management and are aware of the challenges typically present in project work.

The result of the exam cannot be appealed.

All aids are permitted, subject to following rules for citation.

Grade scale A-F.

Two internal examiners