I wanted to teach French and History as secondary school subjects during my time at UL (then NIHE) as an undergrad. It was the 1980’s and jobs for teachers generally were scarce. Some 15 years later as I undertook my Master’s in Project Management (part-time distance) at UL I wondered if teaching might still be a possibility…
Here I list my skills and certifications that have accompanied my teaching journey thus far. There are likely stories along the way that are worth recounting, but for now I will start with the list in chronological order encompassing industry and academic experiences.
1999-2001: At Heineken Ireland (then Murphy Brewery Ireland) I had the experience of being a project team member responsible for establishing a call centre that would centralise the administration and support for customers, typically publicans and wholesale distributors nationwide. External consultants for the most part drove the project but I was fascinated by the process design work, mapping ‘as is’ to ‘to be’ processes that would form the basis of a customer relationship management (CRM) system design. By the end of the project I had no wish to the return to my accounting technician day job, so when an opportunity presented itself to join the project team tasked with implementing an enterprise relationship management (ERP) system, I grasped it with both hands. My project management career was underway.
April 2001: Joining Apple as a Systems and Process Re-engineer meant working on projects and process improvements for the online stores and contact centres was my job. Not at all sure that I had sufficient skills to undertake the role I decided I needed to learn more about project management. The time was right to think about an MBA, however, serendipity intervened in the format of an ad by the Centre for Project Management, UL, placed in two editions of the Irish Times and my fate was sealed. I enrolled as a student on the Masters in Project Management and undertook my studies between 2001 and 2003.
November 2004: I had the privilege of presenting my Masters research in the student section of a conference in Vienna. As a rookie presenter I was incredibly nervous and did not perform at all well. In more recent years I have had opportunities to present on my PhD topic at conferences, in-person and online. The nervousness prevails but I am able to manage it better.
June 2007: Studying for PMP certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) involved going to Dublin to sit the test, albeit computer based, not pen and paper. Pressing submit and waiting for the results to flash up was nerve-wracking, but a successful outcome was achieved.
2009: I was asked to lead a group of about 20 colleagues interesting in taking PMP or CAPM certification tests, held on campus at Apple. Over a series of Friday afternoons that year I delivered content to support their project management journey. The test was taken, the results arrived, most passed and HR was happy with me!
2017-2018: Conscious that I did not hold a teaching qualification, I enrolled in the Digital Education programme at the University of Edinburgh. I was not keen on a second Master’s degree since my goal was a PhD in education. However, the programme structure at Edinburgh allowed an exit after one year with a postgrad certificate or two years with a diploma. Before the end of the first year I had been offered a place at Lancaster University on their E-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning structured PhD programme so I happily collected my certificate with distinction and went on my way.
2019-2023: Learning how to research, as I journeyed through the structured 2-year part of my PhD programme, provided me with skills that I now pass on to my research students. In parallel, all that I had learned from being on the team that introduced the online MSc in Project and Programme Management at UL in 2012 was now conceptualised in theories of learning in an online world.
2024-present: My teaching journey continues, putting my skills into practice, learning all the while.
Sandra Flynn 