Blended Learning Models, Curricula, and Gamification in Project Management Education

Abstract

Project management learning involves realization of the project management’s knowledge areas, familiarity with advanced tools as well as developing abilities like critical thinking and decision-making. The majority of inexperienced project managers struggle to achieve these essential skills. Teaching project management is sometimes difficult due to the involvement of practical implementation along with delivering the theoretical concepts. The subject has been explored in a variety of ways by the research community covering the improvisations in teaching methodologies and curricula as well as the applications of alternative approaches such as blended learning and gamification. This article presents the review of the state-of-the-art research in project management education by carefully reviewing the selected research articles published between 2015 and 2022. The primary goal of this study is to summarize the impact of blended learning, curriculum and gamification in project management education by examining the empirically verified research. The key findings represent that “evaluation research” and “solution proposal” are the two most used research categories. Furthermore, this study proposes a taxonomy, which is designed to summarize the fundamental components of blended learning along with their advantages. Moreover, the challenges and gaps as open issues are also presented in the area of project management education. Additionally, this research suggests a project centric model to enhance the learning outcomes of project management courses and provides guidelines for instructors to improve the blended learning and gamification experience for students of project management courses. Finally, the prospects of future research have been offered to the fellow researchers and practitioners engaged in project management education.