From Flash Cards to Project Manager

Recently I've been writing curricula for a three part nonprofit series. One of the earlier tasks was to explain to novices or experienced students how to set up a nonprofit organization using a variety of learning methods. First, I had a crude timeline, but wanted more visuals. Good visuals can save a
lot of time. So instead of a timeline, I used a pictoral flow sheet. Since my desire was to appeal to
a diverse group of students, using a wide variety of teaching methods, it occurred to me that a more
effective way to teach this concept would be to create old fashioned flash cards with picture and
a written decription, and have small groups of students interact, and manipulate the cards and report
to the larger group the rational for the proposed order. By each group reporting, students learn from
each other, and listen to others' perspective. It occurred to me that not all students may be familiar
with basic project management.

Another task in the first class is to select a nonprofit board using nine defined criteria. This requires them to interview other students and is a nonprofit version of speed dating. The objective is to match desired attributes to the needs of the organization. Once the small group has selected their "Board", and before they "hire" staff or recruit any "volunteers", the Board will need to wrestle with how to assign resources (match the right Board member to the right task, or find and manage outside resources to aid them in the process). With any project, there is a time limit, so one or more task are requires in order to proceed with another task so they can be put in the correct order. Different tasks require different amounts of time. Some tasks are significant enough that they could be another whole project. The goal for students is to learn basic project management skills, so they can integrate these skills and build on them for the rest of their life.

Learning is more than spitting out the right answer to pass a test. One hallmark of successful learning is that students becomes passionate about teaching others.