Graduation Milestones: A Critical Path Approach to Graduating

Presenter Information

Thomas Hussong, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

21-4-2014 2:00 PM

End Date

21-4-2014 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Construction Management

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Matthew Durand

Mentor's Department

Construction Management

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Construction Management students are taking on average over 5 years to graduate from a four year curriculum program which has taken time and money from the student. I myself have taken over 5 years to graduate. My goal is to simplify the process and bring awareness to this problem. This project involves discovering the optimal curriculum path of a Construction Management student to graduate. It is also a study on where current Construction Management students are missing the path. This has been done by taking a critical path approach to the curriculum and by analyzing current students and their path that they are taking to graduate. I analyzed the graduation curriculum and entered it into P6 software and used critical path scheduling to show the optimal path with the critical path points becoming milestones. I then compared this optimal path to over 20 student’s actual path to graduation. I was able to conclude that most students waited too long to get through their CM 100 and CM 200 level classes and this added time to complete their college degree. I learned that the sooner the students were able to complete their CM 100 level and CM 200 level classes the sooner they would graduate. Through showing the value of completing CM 100 level and CM 200 level classes early in a student’s college career, I hope to bring awareness to current students and advisors the importance of focusing on completing these classes.