Project outsource: providing students with project management experience using contractors

This article describes a service‐learning assignment that incorporates independent contractors into the classroom. The assignment is designed to facilitate students learning technical and interpersonal aspects of project management through practice managing a project, and it involves students managing a distributed team member. Service‐learning projects address the motivational shortcomings of traditional instructional approaches by having students develop solutions for outside stakeholders. However, traditional service‐learning projects are limited by the skills of the students in the course. The project outsource assignment is novel in at least three ways. First, unlike many service‐learning assignments, it is effective in online and traditional settings. Second, it provides students with practice managing a distributed team member. Third, incorporating skilled contract workers enables students to undertake a wider range of service‐learning projects. The article describes the assignment, objectives, process, results, and transferability aspects of the assignment.