EFFECTS OF STUDENTS' FACTORS ON THEIR ACADEMIC RESULTS IN A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEARNING

In recent years, ensuring the quality of learning has become a priority objective in the general field of Higher Education in Europe. The main conclusions from several lines of research emphasize that what students do during their training process has an important role in explaining the quality of the learning outcomes. Furthermore, every educational decision that concerns methodology should be made according to the characteristics, interests and needs of students as main actors of the training action. This should be done while taking care of the diversity of expectations to achieve the highest possible academic performance and, also, the highest level of satisfaction with the expected learning outcomes. In this sense, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) offer different benefits and educational opportunities in the teaching and learning process. The present work aims to analyze the impact of learning styles on how they experience their learning environment in project management courses that are based on virtual teamwork compared to a more traditional methodology. One of the main findings of this study is that a methodology that incorporates a virtual teamwork experience combined with lectures, such as the presented in this work, is more effective than a more traditional teaching environment because it improves students' satisfaction and academic performance.