Post COVID-19: Enhancing Learners’ Project Management Skills Through Online and Face-to-Face Module
Résumé
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in the use of online learning, including in the project management module (Shen et al., 2023). This course involves collaborative learning, where learners need to work productively together (Ruder et al., 2021). Despite the knowledge of successful practices of collaborative online learning (Biasutti, 2017; Khalil and Ebner, 2017), the official policy of the studied universities encourages all Departments to reduce the number of online trainings due to learners' feedback on emergency online courses during the pandemic.
To suggest a practical insight into the above situation, this study focuses on answering the following questions: Face-to-face and online project management courses, which training modality helps learners develop their project management skills? and what are the aspects to be considered for organizing project management module so that it ensures learners’ improvement in project management skills?
The control group consisted of graduate students (n=10) who attended a face-to-face project management module. Meanwhile, the experimental group was made up of final-year undergraduates (n=11) who participated in an online project management module. Both groups completed a survey at the beginning and end of the module to evaluate their project management skills. The results showed that both groups had similar levels of project management skills at the beginning, but the experimental group showed significant improvement by the end. The study recommends that a well-planned instructional design can significantly enhance learners' skill development.