Objectives and Outcomes in Risk Management Education

Since the advent of the Personal Computer in the 1980’s, the Information Technology (IT) industry has ballooned into one of the largest employers of people across the world. However, IT projects have constantly been plagued with low success rates. Analysis of these project failures has revealed lack of knowledge of risk management practices and tools as a key reason for unsuccessful projects.This project focused on the development of a graduate level course in Information Technology risk management for incorporation into the graduate level curriculum at the department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University. A Problem learning model with a focus on constructivism was used for the design of this course. The educational materials developed as part of the project include course lectures, exercise assignments and a team-based project modeling a real-life situation in a large biomedical manufacturing organization with the use of risk analysis software Crystal Ball.