Reflective Learning and the Doctor of Project Management Program

The guiding principle of professionalism has been that professionals perform a service beyond merely doing a particular job. Rather, they reflect on the environment that influenced their past performance and seek ways to not only understand what they do and how they do it, but how they can improve their performance. While the medical profession gained much from research into the science of medicine, public health and the environment for well over a century, medical practitioners also developed a rich source of learning from studying their medical practices. Other professions have more recently emulated this reflective research approach to provide deep insights into their work practices. The development of professional doctorates has provided a strong impetus for participants to productively engage in reflective learning. This paper presents experiences from the development of the Doctor of Project Management (DPM) program at RMIT University. The program specifically targets coursework and research elements of the program at senior project managers’ reflection on their project management experience. This has unearthed a hidden opportunity for research by mature-age practitioners that appears to generate in them an important intrinsic motivation to not only participate in profound learning about project management but to do so in a way that provides high level recognition through the award of a doctoral qualification.