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Top1. Introduction
Project management (PM) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements (PMI, 2017). The important role project managers play in organizations has made the issue of teaching and learning how to manage projects a topic of increasing research interest in higher education (Ojiako et al., 2014). Project management education faces a number of challenges, though. As pointed out by researchers, PM education has not met the current needs of the industry (Khodeir, 2018). Educating and training approaches for PM professionals have failed to meet modern enterprises’ needs because current education does not adequately prepare managers to deal with the complex realities of the real world (Ramazani & Jergeas, 2015). The same concern is observed in the field of Software Engineering Education (SEE), whose researchers are also worried about preparing students for their future careers (Cico et al., 2021).
Previous research has shown that students disapproved of PM courses that appeared abstract and misaligned with reality. Students require more practicality and relevance to the real world when learning PM, indicating a desire for an alignment between course deliverables and industry expectations (Ashleigh et al., 2012). In terms of PM education requirements, students know they have to experience acting like real project managers through real-life situations, in which they are able to understand project complexity and team work (Khodeir, 2018). Project-based learning (PBL) is an educational method capable of supporting project management teaching, overcoming the before-mentioned challenges.
PBL provides opportunities for students to carry out learning activities through working on collaborative projects. Students apply information and knowledge based on real experience to produce products (Eliyasni et al., 2019). PBL creates a learning environment that encourages students to construct their personal knowledge and skills. It comprises the comprehension of concepts and principles, investigations, topic discussions, decision-making, and product delivery (Surahman et al., 2019). It is a learning process in which students are engaged in working on authentic projects and the development of products (Guo et al., 2020b).
Project-based learning approaches are common in Software Engineering and Project Management education. Software engineering courses usually rely on different teaching strategies such as PBL to enable students to practice their skills in relatively realistic project environments. However, the blended learning modality is still little explored (Cico et al., 2021) in this field. Blended Learning is an approach that combines distinct modes of learning delivery and communication that can meet, at low cost, the demand for education (Al-Samarraie & Saeed, 2018). It has been increasingly adopted by universities due to its perceived effectiveness in providing timely, continuous, and flexible learning (Prasad et al., 2018). BL comprises a mixture of face-to-face (F2F) and online components (Alammary et al., 2014).
The application of PBL in blended learning environments is called Blended Project-based learning (BPBL). BPBL provides students with concepts and theories in online learning sessions, followed by project activities that are completed during lectures (Adri et al., 2020). BPBL is effective in improving and developing students’ thinking skills (Husamah, 2015). It can be used to teach software engineering and project management processes and techniques since students need to plan a real-project and develop a software product, which is expected to reduce the gap between the industrial world and academia (Adri et al., 2020). Previous researchers stated that the existing literature has not deeply analyzed the combination of the two learning models (Tong & Wei, 2020).