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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Initiating and Planning Projects by University of California, Irvine

4.7
stars
22,707 ratings

About the Course

The courses in the Introduction to Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization are a recommended precursor to UCI's Applied Project Management Certificate. Successful projects require careful upfront planning. In this course, you’ll learn the key roles and responsibilities of the project manager and project team. You’ll also learn to answer some key questions upfront to help you meet project objectives: What will this project accomplish? Why is this project important? Who benefits from this project? How will we plan for successful outcomes? Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Identify the key characteristics of a project 2. Identify primary project constraints 3. Define the role and responsibilities of the project manager 4. Identify Project Organizational Structures 5. Understand the definition of a Project Stakeholder 6. Identify project stakeholders 7. Identify information needs of the project stakeholders 8. Define responsibility for managing stakeholder and controlling stakeholder engagement 9. Define the purpose of using a project charter 10. Summarize the key elements of a project plan 11. Identify common sources of conflict within a project environment 12. Describe the difference between authority and influence...
Highlights
foundational knowledge

(842 Reviews)

introductory course

(675 Reviews)

Top reviews

SY

Aug 30, 2020

The course is a very great asset to any aspiring project manager. You get to understand the fundamentals and essentials in any given project and the means to ameliorate conflicts amongst stakeholders.

DS

Nov 19, 2017

It was very helpful for me to understand what the project management is. I am just thinking about starting this new career path and i was feeling comfortable in this field during the learning process.

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4076 - 4100 of 4,247 Reviews for Initiating and Planning Projects

By Karen P R G

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Nov 18, 2021

Ok

By Nguyễn M L (

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Apr 2, 2021

adv

By Vaibhav D

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Apr 24, 2021

..

By Nguyen T D

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Oct 3, 2019

ok

By DINESH P V

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Nov 8, 2022

s

By BABU S

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Feb 20, 2021

n

By Vipin K

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Aug 8, 2020

.

By Muhammad A

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Aug 26, 2019

A

By Usama H

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Jun 20, 2017

V

By Lawrence M

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Mar 29, 2016

W

By Karan T

•

Feb 24, 2021

The following pointers need to be worked upon:

1. The Flash Lesson was not downloadable and I had to take a screenshot of each slide for it to be saved.

2. Since there are no interactive sessions that various users can take between them, so reading exercise in each week was redundant as there is no way one can check up on how to correct response one is giving even if one does this exercise. So, I chose to leave this exercise in each of the weeks.

3. The quiz in each week is too simple which anyone can pass on the first attempt (or on the second attempt at the most) if one has studied the week's course material well. The quiz needs to moderately difficult and not too each as was the case.

4. There is a lot of repetition between the first video lesson and the second reading lesson in the weeks. For instance, in Week 4, there was a lot of repetition of the previous week especially in the Flash reading lesson which could have been avoided.

5. Week 1 and Week 6 can be clubbed together wherein details and interviews about panelists could be added in Week 1 itself. Week 6 could just have the final quiz.

6. The Fast Forward MBA in Management and PMBOK Guide book details have been unnecessary over-stated in the entire course each week. This needs to be stated only once at the start of the course as not many will be interested in this.

By Dwanna C

•

Mar 19, 2021

I found the material very dry. I understand that it can only be made so exciting but more is needed to keep people engaged. I would like an assignment at the end of each close like writing a project scope that is graded by fellow students. Something that builds as you go. Also, I wish I had known that the PMBOK was suggested reading before taking the class and I would have thought twice about taking it. I like the instructor and the foundation of material is good.

By Jeffrey L

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Aug 13, 2016

Could be in much greater depth. Loved the video lectures: more please! Perhaps a second video lecture per week that delves into greater detail, so that the level of discussion is more in line with the PMBOK. The quizzes were simplistic, which is fine, but the final was literally just questions from the quizzes pasted together (all were repeats!) This sad fact undermines the integrity of the final as an actual test of ability and comprehension.

By Charu L S

•

Sep 26, 2015

The course, as intended probably, is theoretical and gives a good snapshot of project management. Following the PMBOK guide and covering all the relevant portions in the limited time deserves an applause. The only area of improvement, I felt, was the case study.It could have been a little more detailed and has scope of increased level of difficulty. A good course overall and beneficial in almost all walks of work :) Thank you !

By Jesus M

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Mar 2, 2016

A bit confusing in term of structure. We jumped from some sections of the project life cycle to others missing some others. It gave a good general picture of what project management is about. But I'm not quite sure which is the order I should follow when dealing with a project. However I have to say I didn't do the optional readings. At least not yet!

Anyway, I think is an overall good course for not initiated people like me

By Amy O

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Aug 5, 2020

I have often wondered if it would be worth it to get a PMP certificate but after taking this class I am thinking not so much. Not a criticism of the curriculum, but as someone who has 20+ years in the creative field it's not apples to apples. The terminology is similar enough but still quite different. For a new person starting out in a non-creative environment this is good introduction to the general concepts on PM.

By John P

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Feb 4, 2016

I watched the entire set of week one lectures, and sadly I do not think this is up to scratch with the rest of the material on Coursera. The presentation is not consistent: there are slides, web cam videos, animations, and it just feels like the course is a mish mash. The University of Adelaide is running a similar course on a well known competitor site, so I have signed up to that.

By Kacie S

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Nov 30, 2015

Material is very detailed which is both a positive and negative. It gets a little redundant and some things are just common sense. You can tell the instructor is trying to be upbeat but is very clearly reading off of "cue cards" so it's a little flat. For a free course you get a lot of information and it is very easy to get a 100 on every quiz.

By C. C

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Jul 8, 2016

I like the materials, but I don't like that you need to pay to take the quizzes. I think that it is against the spirit of Coursera because it limits the experience of user who are willing to learn but don't have enough money to pay for the course. Many other courses allow you to take quizzes and do projects whitout paying

By Mahmoud E L

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Jan 17, 2018

I think extra knowledge is needed cause while studying from the PMBOK, i found that 10% of the topic is being lectured and the other 90% are to be self-studied and technically 30% of not self-explained so more time is wasted in looking up for info that were not in the lecture if you know what i mean.

By Mario Z

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Mar 18, 2019

I wish the course had more examples taken from real project. It would be useful to consider more meaningful case studies and to analyze their actual documents and deliverables.

One last thing, reading the slides through the website instead that having pdf to download and read was really annoying.

By Saleh M A

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Nov 7, 2019

I learn more from this course such as how mange project, how I understood concepts key elements of project, the performance cost work. Finally, Thank very much to all instructors or anyone contributes in preparing this course to content all these information that really gain more to background

By Carlos E P V

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Aug 12, 2017

the processes explained in the PMBOK Guide are very dense and neither white or black but grey. It is important so ilustrate with little examples in order to be able to understand the processes, documentation, deliverables and tools of each of the 10 knowledge areas of Project Management

By Tomas M

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Oct 14, 2015

The course is great resource of information. The biggest drawback is the need of using Flash to view most of the lecture. This limited my ability to went through the course on time - I "attend" Coursera courses using my iPhone while commuting and it is not possible for this course.

By Mona H

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Apr 26, 2020

I really liked the case studys, the bonus videos and the panelist interview at the end of the course. This course is a good opportunity to gain basic knowledge about project management but I think the videos were too short and the majority of the course consists of reading.