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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management by University of Virginia

4.7
stars
9,773 ratings

About the Course

Projects are all around us. Virtually every organization runs projects, either formally or informally. We are engaged in projects at home and at work. Across settings, planning principles and execution methodologies can offer ways in which projects can be run more effectively and efficiently. Project management provides organizations (and individuals) with the language and the frameworks for scoping projects, sequencing activities, utilizing resources, and minimizing risks. This is an introductory course on the key concepts of planning and executing projects. We will identify factors that lead to project success, and learn how to plan, analyze, and manage projects. Learners will be exposed to state-of-the-art methodologies and to considering the challenges of various types of projects....

Top reviews

JL

Sep 6, 2020

Very informative, concise, and easy to digest. Provides a solid foundation / framework for approaching projects, with great tutorials on using software for analysis. Great experience overall, thanks!

SH

Mar 18, 2018

The course provided a good introductory lessons on project planning and management. The course was organized clearly with interesting exercises and the instructions were helpful. Thank you very much.

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26 - 50 of 2,470 Reviews for Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management

By Martin B

Feb 5, 2017

I gained a lot from this course, but perhaps not as much as expected even considering it is a fundamentals course. I had hoped to learn a bit more depth, rather than the few basic concepts actually covered. That being said, the instructor did mention at the very beginning which aspects would be skipped and which would be covered, and those covered were covered very well, with the possible caveat that the instructor tended to teach as standard methods that were her preference or background. Additional research on my own turned up a wider variety of PM techniques that were not even mentioned.

Overall, worth taking, especially as a very basic introduction for those who (like me) had no previous PM experience.

By M O A

Sep 7, 2021

Being honest, this is not a very practical course. The same information is present in any youtube 15 mins video about project planning and management. Its a very basic course with no hands on examples. I would definitely not recommend anyone to take this basic course.

By Jaisil R D

May 8, 2020

I really like this course. The teaching methodology was good and the quiz was pretty challenging to learn better. The videos about software tools are very useful. Cant wait to implement them.

By Boonyawadee E

Oct 24, 2020

This course gives a very very basic knowledge of project management. They did give me the keywords but the instructor didn't explain it well. I was always struggling to search and to find the definition, the example, the explanation of the terms by myself, thank god we have Google. So it's not that worth it. I mean, why I have to pay for the course if I still have to learn by myself this much. I'm okay to search for the complement resources by myself to fulfill the knowledge but in this course, the instructor actually failed to explain and to teach. It was so so so hard and frustrated learning this course, especially for me, who didn't have any experience or background knowledge in this field before.

Even I got a 100% score but to be honest, I don't think I understand it that much. (maybe the exam is too easy)

So disappointed. I don't recommend this course to anyone, I'm sorry.

By Martin M

Feb 19, 2018

Before i embarked on this course i though project management was a peace of cake... Not that i am threatening people to go for it but giving it the respect it deserves. Projects are around us but how often do we put in efforts to have them planned and executed right. I am very please that the next time i encounter a project whether small or big, Simple or Complex, i will give it my whole and utilize all the tools i have learnt through this course.

Definitely i would not have done this without the tutorship of Yael Grushka-Cockayne

Associate Professor of Business Administration

Darden School of Business

University of Virginia

thanks a lot Yael.

Regards,

Martin K Musozi (Uganda)

By Débora R

Jul 15, 2020

I really enjoyed this course! As a biologist I planned and managed some small research projects for MSc students without any knowledge of how to do it. Fortunately all projects were successful so I thought it would interesting to learn a little more about project planning and management of bigger projects, as I am considering a career change and making part of a project management team is on the table.

I learnt some very interesting things, and as my boyfriend is involved in a software development project that is not doing as well as expected I was able to identify what went wrong on planning. :)

By Yury K

Oct 12, 2017

Thanks to the whole team who prepared this course and especially to Yael for her professional and vivid presentations and explanations. The course covers basic issues which lie in the basis of any project, and it is done in a simple and well-structured manner. After this course you will have a clear picture of how to start planning your project, how to identify critical tasks, what risks are likely to happen and how to minimize them. This helps to structure all your thoughts and ideas together and start working on your project right away.

By Suki F

Nov 2, 2020

Fabulous course! The course was well organized in easy-to-follow modules that covered key project management concepts. The case studies reinforced the learning effectively. I learned a great deal in a relatively short amount of time. Most importantly, the instructor's enthusiasm for project management and engaging speaking style gave life to a topic that I had feared would be dull. Highly recommended for any business professional who often leads projects but lacks formal training in project management.

By Reyhan C D

Feb 14, 2016

Fantastic course, with great videos and materials. Yael is great at communicating the fundamentals via her videos, supplemental materials & case studies (really good examples of theory in practice).

Great for anyone wanting to refresh/solidify their fundamentals in Project Management (for those already with work experience), as well as beginners who are interested in getting a solid foundation. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in understanding the Fundamentals of Project Management.

By Торгунаков Н Ю

Nov 6, 2020

I already had some experience in project management, but this course would still give me the same pleasure, even if I were an absolute beginner. I learned a lot of terms and new tools that I am sure will come in handy in the future.

It was interesting for me to participate in all the tasks on real cases and it is surprising that only a small part of all students completed them. I think it would be even better if at least one of these assignments were peer-reviewed.

By Pruthvi N

Aug 9, 2020

The course is well structured, simplified and is very much to the points. The topics are clearly explained and one can gain lot of insights on project planning. The earned value analysis is very well explained. The tutorials shared on microsoft professional usage for project management is very useful. The quiz questions summarizes the complete learning, its nice way of revisiting the learning. Its agreat course to gain a lot of for Project planning and manamgent

By Muhammad S M

Nov 13, 2015

A great teacher inspires. And this is what I see here. I have fallen in love with this subject. The expression, way of speech of the Professor are amazing. Lectures proceed followed by an example that clarifies the concept very clearly. It's so interestingly taught that one just loves each and every lecture. Thank you so much Prof. Yael Grushka-Cockayne, University of Virginia and Coursera. I hope to see more and more courses from this Professor :)

By Richie B

Jun 13, 2021

This course was unexpectedly good. I got the chance to touch on most of the Project Management tools and techniques which I will indeed be using for the rest of my life moving forward. Of course some parts of this course was harder than expected but it challenged me to learn and do research on my own on the side. I am very happy to have took the time to take part in this course and I will definitely recommend it to my colleagues. Thank you.

By MashaD

Nov 29, 2020

I consider myself a beginner project manager and will apply some of the concepts I've learned here in my future projects. Thank you for interesting lectures and assignments!

By Alexis D G

Dec 17, 2020

I thought the Information was Invaluable, I learned alot and I was really challenged In my critical thinking. I felt the delivery of the videos was very clunky, and the professor did not seem Incredibly confident to me In the Information she was delivering.

By Paulo A

Dec 16, 2015

Exams are not very good - some ambiguous, misleading or wrong-data questions/answers.

By Kristiyan K

Dec 28, 2016

The course provides fundamentals as advertised, but the delivery was not impressive. For example the lecturer's speech interrupts, changing words and thought-flow. Examples given were not well thought-out, for example HR was said to be hard-set because it was "outsourced" which doesn't make sense. Another example would be where the lecturer said that "stand-up meetings" mean no body is allowed to sit down?! Generally, seems to me the course was filmed in a hurry and wasn't delivered good enough for a rating above the basic fundamental two stars.

By Luigi A

Feb 25, 2017

The Quizzes are written in a very tricky way. It's supposed to be a course for beginners.

By Luis E d S

Sep 30, 2020

The course itself probably is good, although it wasn't interesting to me. I've asked to leave, to un-enroll from the course, but the Coursera system wasn't clear enough to show I was out from the course. Against my will, I was charged after the 7 days trial what upsets me a lot. The Coursera engine is not user-friendly at all.

By Ashher M K

May 5, 2016

Not aligned to PMI. Should be ideally directed towards helping prepare for recognized certifications like PMP, Prince2 etc.

By Lisa L

Mar 8, 2021

I paid for the course and completed it only to find out it was discontinued by PMI. No PDU credit!

By A C

Feb 22, 2023

I have completed the "Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management" course and I am truly impressed. This course provided me with the necessary knowledge and skills to manage projects more effectively.

I learned how to evaluate, prioritize, and manage project risks, and use the earned value approach to monitor and control progress. I feel very confident in planning and executing projects.

I also highly appreciate Yael Grushka-Cockayne's teaching style. She is a true expert in project management and introduced me to many new and interesting concepts.

The course structure is very good, with clear and easy-to-understand lectures and reading materials. I enjoyed doing the exercises and quizzes as they helped me apply what I learned to real-world situations.

I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in project management. It will help you become a better project manager and bring success to your projects.

By Eric K

Feb 22, 2022

Highly recommend to anyone new to project management - Professor Yael does a great job clearly explaining the fundamental concepts with charts and tables while showcasing real life examples, actual work product examples, and case studies. The interactive feature is a bit lacking, with classmates who just copy and paste question prompt instead of actually providing thoughtful answers because all they want is to just put a certificate somewhere, but you get what you put in, and there are still some serious learners whose responses you can view and learn from. Perhaps Coursera can better monitor this area to ensure the quality of interaction is improved. But back to the instruction itself, Prof. Yael Groshuka-Cockayne is a top-notch lecturer in giving just the right amount of information suitable for this introductory course.

By EKEMHE M O

Jun 1, 2023

I recently completed the course on Coursera and I found it to be an excellent introduction to project management. The course is taught by instructors from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, and the content is well-organized and easy to follow. The course covers topics such as project planning, budgeting, risk management, and stakeholder management, among others. The instructors use a combination of video lectures, readings, and quizzes to help reinforce the concepts taught in each module that are informative and accessible. One of the things I appreciated about the course was the emphasis on real-world examples and case studies. This helped me to better understand how the concepts I was learning could be applied in a practical setting.

By Nakul D

Nov 26, 2022

It was quite informative and helped me learn about the tools such as Microsoft Project and specifically about the execution of the project and how can we keep an eye on the deviations in schedule and cost of the project. Another good this was the assignments, the calculations taught during the lectures was evaluated during the assignments so it helped me implement those formulas that were discussed during the lectures. Supplemental videos were another add-ons which helped me learn about the different approaches that can be used based on the type of project that we are handling.

Thank you so much for all the tips and tricks. Also, I would like to thank you for approving my financial aid due to which I got the chance to learn so much about Project Management.