By Shruti Aggarwal, Asst. Professor, FSB
College Life Cycle - College completion and getting the degree successfully without paying extra and contributing extra time is a major task to be accomplished. Every project has some phases that are needed to accomplish on step by step basis in order to reach at the goal. Thus, considering college education and getting a degree as a project, there are few phases that are needed to be accomplished so as to be successful without paying extra and on time. The college completion life cycle is as follows:
- Enrollment (Initiation phase): (College Education Life Cycle, 2017) In this phase, the student have to get enrolled in a degree program of his/her interests by taking up the entrance exams and perform better with aggressive approach towards study.
- Admission (Planning Phase): (College Education Life Cycle, 2017) On the basis of the entrance exam, the student will get admission in the degree program after paying recommended fees to the college. (Assuming that the student stood in merit in entrance exam).
- Course Period (Execution phase): (College Education Life Cycle, 2017) After the admission, the student will go through the course work and the lectures during his/her course period of getting the said degree. The performance, attendance and learning of the student should be above average as a positive approach towards getting a degree.
- Assignments and Internal Grading (Execution phase): There is a system of internal grading on the basis of assignments, student’s performance in internal exams and during the course period. The student should achieve high grades in his/her internal grading.
- Final Exams (Closing phase): (College Education Life Cycle, 2017) This is the last step where the student has to get good grades in all the subjects that will be added to the internal grades to form the final marks.
- Getting a Degree (Closing phase): The degree of the course completion will be assigned to the students who have got overall good grades during the course completion.
Therefore, this is the college education life cycle of a student and its phases that are needed to be accomplish in order to get a degree.
Process
College Education completion consists of lot of activities in terms of learning and its application during the course period that adds up the value towards the phase by phase completion of a course in order to get a final degree. Each phase of the college education life cycle consists of following activities:
- Enrollment:
ü Applying for the entrance exam
ü Preparing for the entrance exam
ü Giving an exam thoroughly while applying your learning’s efficiently
- Admission:
ü Getting the results of the entrance exam
ü Based on the merit, getting the admission in the desired college
ü Payment of the fees
- Course Period:
ü Attending lectures on time
ü Learning practical applications of the theoretical portion
ü Solving complex problems
ü Be disciplined and aggressive towards course completion
- Assignments and Internal Grading:
ü Preparing assignments and delivering it on time
ü Learning from the assignments that would help you in the future.
ü Every task should be completed in your hands without any external help.
ü Perform better and more than average in internal exams.
- Final Exams:
ü Prepare for the exams thoroughly
ü Writing the exams efficiently with lot of learning examples.
ü Getting good marks or grades.
- Getting a degree:
ü Get a degree on a successful completion of a course work
ü Hunt for job opportunities.
ü Apply the learning’s of a degree course work in your day to day work life.
Therefore, these are the activities associated with each phase of the college education completion life cycle.
Techniques
The techniques are required for the accomplishment of activities or tasks attributed to each phase of college education completion life cycle. Some of these techniques could be:
- Work Break down Structure ("ProjectManagement.com - Techniques Wiki", 2017): The work break down structure is a technique to divide the activities into various tasks and sub-tasks while assigning time limit for the completion of each tasks so as to make it easier to accomplish the activities and project goal on time and with efficiency.
- Resource planning: This technique will make sure that the students have enough resources in terms of funds, books, reading materials, library access, stationary and online resources so as to facilitate the completion of activities with productivity and without a break.
- Planning other key tasks in parallel: Many a times, students enroll for part time jobs and other activities related to hobbies. To manage all the tasks and to focus on the key project of getting a degree needs some planning and time management.
- Cycle time Analysis ("Project Management Guru Tools and Techniques", 2017): This technique makes sure that the time allotted for each activity, tasks and other work is taken care of while performing the tasks.
- Gap Analysis ("Project Management Guru Tools and Techniques", 2017): This technique enables the student to analyze the gap between the actual performance and the desired performance in terms of grading.
Models
The models that will help in the initiation of the college education and a getting a degree project are as follows:
- W’s ("Project Management Guru Initiation", 2017): This is a model that helps in answering all the questions related to the project initiation and the degree program that will form the baseline or the foundation of your college education and the goals associated with it. These questions would be:
ü Why this particular degree is important?
ü What role does this degree will contribute towards your future?
ü When is the college course going to end?
ü Who would be your teachers and mates?
ü Where would be the college located?
- In Frame/Out Frame ("Project Management Guru Initiation", 2017): This model will let the major goals and tasks to be accomplished in the list of ‘In Frame’ activities and the secondary goals and tasks in the list of ‘Out Frame’ activities. The student can set his/her priorities related to the initiation of the degree project.
The models that will help in the planning and control of activities are as under:
- Tollgate Planning ("Project Management Guru Planning", 2017): This model divides the whole project into several phases and then allocates the budget and a schedule to each phase. The students will divide the college degree program into several phases and will allocate the schedule to accomplish those phases along with the budget in terms of fees, stationary, software’s and books expenses.
- Variance Report ("Project Management Guru Monitoring and Controlling Tools", 2017): The student can make a report that should contain the critical remarks by the professors, desired results and the difference between the desired and the actual results. Knowing that, the student can prepare for the degree accordingly.
Tools
The tools that could be used to facilitate the models are as follows:
- PERT-CPM ("Project Management: Tools & Techniques", 2017): Through PERT-CPM tool the student could identify the key milestones and sequence them while estimating the time required accomplishing those milestones. The student will then prepare a network diagram and identify the critical path that will help in accomplishing the goal or getting a degree in fastest and efficient manner.
- Gantt chart ("Project Management: Tools and Techniques", 2017): Through Gantt chart, the student can assign the expected time of completion of each activity and prepare a graph showing the elapsed time, and completion times with a difference in projected start time and the actual start time. The student can track its growth towards the completion of college education while controlling the deviations (if any).
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