<p><span style="color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The benefits and some challenges of using game-based learning (GBL) methods in project management higher education have not been widely investigated. This research employs qualitative methods and builds on in-depth interview data from 22 experienced university teachers with a project management teaching background. It shows us that teachers perceive beneficial consequences for students from gaming, such as increased interest and knowledge acquisition with a memorable learning experience. Teachers' inspirations and motivations both have been boosted by a novel method to motivate and engage students. The challenges of GBL for students manifest as increased cognitive load and stress. The research contributes to a deeper understanding of the impact of GBL methods while identifying some challenges and disadvantages, which are not as widely discussed as the benefits. The research identifies experiences from project management teachers' perspectives, covering both learners' and instructors’ viewpoints. Findings may help teachers to decide whether GBL could be used in their courses.</span></p><p id="p0035" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The degree of “objectification” in Western economies in all economic sectors indicates that approximately one-third of all economic activities are project-based</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. A highly skilled workforce is needed to deal with project management challenges for the success of project-based organizations. Future project managers also need to be ready to adapt to, face, and take control of project leadership responsibilities. Therefore, higher education institutes need to provide educational programs that train and equip new professionals with relevant discipline-based and generic skills.</span></p><p id="p0040" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Modern project management requires some skills for dealing with complexity and uncertainty together with constantly changing organizations and technologies.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Researchers have proposed that already education should prepare project managers with a more practical approach to project complexity and skills development instead of theory</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Using game concepts like GBL and simulations as teaching methods in project management education provides students with an opportunity to apply and practice their knowledge in simulative setups.</span></p><p id="p0045" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">There are several papers and research results on using serious games, educational games, and game-based learning in various fields as learning solutions or methods, but teaching project management skills and phenomena with games has not been widely studied. The potential benefits of GBL are well understood, but less research exists on examining the challenges, disadvantages, and barriers to applying it. This research paper is written to analyze and understand the perceived benefits and drawbacks of using GBL methods in teaching and learning project management. Incorporating educational games into course designs is not an easy task. This article introduces typical challenges that teachers have faced.</span></p><p id="p0050" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>&nbsp;The fact that there is room to elaborate on and contribute to research on utilizing GBL methods in the project management education context, we formulated the following research questions:</b></span></p><dl class="list" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><dt class="list-label" style="margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; float: left; clear: left;">•</dt><dd class="list-description" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="p0055" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;">What are the benefits and challenges for students applying GBL methods in project management education?</p></dd><dt class="list-label" style="margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; float: left; clear: left;">•</dt><dd class="list-description" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="p0060" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;">What are the benefits and challenges for teachers of applying GBL methods in project management education?</p></dd></dl><p></p><p id="p0065" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">All research data were collected during semi-structured interviews with 22 experienced project management higher education teachers in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. This article illuminates perceptions, opinions, and experiences of GBL methods among both students and teachers.</span></p><p id="p0065" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>Game-based learning and their experiences:</b></span></p><p id="p0070" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Gamification an educational method means incorporating game elements, such as points, badges, levels, roles, and leaderboards, into teaching to engage students with content, motivate action, and influence behavior to promote learning</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. GBL differs from gamification both because it includes an actual game that creates the learning experience and teaches knowledge and skills</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Throughout this, the term “game” is used to refer to either an analog game or a digital game that can be played on a computer or mobile device platform in educational situations. Games designed for learning purposes are called serious games, educational games, or simulation games in the literature, but we do not make a distinction between them in this study.</span></p><p id="p0075" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The following sections discuss findings of GBL experiences from extant research. Since there is a limited number of studies with a project management focus, the benefits and challenges of GBL are discussed on a generic level:</span></p><h3 id="sectitle0035" class="u-h4 u-margin-m-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; margin-top: 24px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1rem !important; line-height: 1.4 !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>Benefits and some challenges for students are:</b></span></h3><p id="p0080" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Cognitive learning theories suggest that play-like activities foster deep learning because learners want to spend effort and time on assignments that they feel are interesting and motivating</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Student engagement is commonly believed to affect learning and motivation. Engagement is defined as the “heightened, simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment in the task at hand”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Games are claimed to facilitate some learning engagement on the cognitive, affective and sociocultural levels, unlike other media providing a playful learning experience</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.</span><img src="/media/django-summernote/2022-11-02/393bb523-cddd-49e0-ac8a-5ffb28a6d89d.png" style="width: 100%;"></p><p id="p0085" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">In existing systematic literature review papers, the benefits of gaming in the education context are relatively aligned, and similar findings are report</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">ed. Collaborative play, competition, and role-play have been identified in several studies as gameplay elements that engage students cognitively and emotionally. The most significant benefits in the higher education context are improved student attitudes, engagement, and performance</span>&nbsp;</p><p id="p0090" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">A positive impact of GBL on students' activation, motivation, and emotional behavior has been repeatedly observed. Challenges posed by games may promote student engagement and learning because working at the limits of one's abilities and skills causes continued interest and feelings of immersion. In addition, leadership skills such as motivation, facilitation, coaching, mindset changing, and communication can be developed with GBL</span>.</p><p id="p0105" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">These are also known interrelated disadvantages of game-based learning for both learners and instructors. Challenges for teachers usually cause negative consequences for students. For students, game-based learning may be time-consuming, and game session durations can be difficult to predict</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. In addition, competition, visibility, and comparison of game results can be uncomfortable for some students. Students may regard gamified classes as demanding and may prefer more traditional learning methods</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. For learners, incomplete technical implementation of GBL practices or disconnection from learning objectives might cause feelings of frustration. However, in addition to generating positive affective states like delight and excitement, reasonable amounts of confusion and frustration in GBL sessions may promote learning. Positive stress may increase motivation and willingness to succeed</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.</span></p><section id="sec2.2" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><h3 id="sectitle0040" class="u-h4 u-margin-m-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); margin-top: 24px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1rem !important; line-height: 1.4 !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>Benefits and some challenges for teachers are:</b></span></h3><p id="p0110" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">The benefits for students mentioned in section 2.1&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">can also be considered directly as benefits for teachers. Engaging students with an interest in learning with a method that teaches the necessary skills is the foundation for successful education. The possibility of connecting the game context to learning topics in a safe environment to practice skills and visualize processes may contribute to learning</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Furthermore, games’ ability to simulate real-life settings and act as a “sandbox” for practicing needed skills may foster learning. A freedom to fail without fear of severe consequences can be provided in a GBL environment</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.</span><img src="/media/django-summernote/2022-11-02/4b2d7f8e-5791-4f06-8e3c-bd6dc3acf055.png" style="width: 100%;"></p><p id="p0115" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;They have identified drivers such as teachers' assumptions of positive effects on students' interest and motivation with the entertaining nature of gamification and its contribution to interactive learning by trial and error. Identified challenges or even barriers are the lack of resources to prepare GBL classes, students' potential resistance towards the method, and a lack of knowledge regarding the suitability of the method to teach the subject.</span></p><p id="p0120" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Successful design </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">and implementation of GBL practices require that they are well integrated into the subject matter taught. Teachers need GBL-specific skills, such as technical competence and gaming literacy, in addition to subject matter expertise and pedagogical skills. Teachers may consider deploying and using games labor-intensive and therefore burdening on top of other tasks</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. In addition to pedagogical suitability and learning game mechanics, the technical reliability of games has been considered a challenge</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.&nbsp;</span></p><p id="p0125" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Insufficient time was mentioned most often as a factor hindering the utilization of GBL practices in teaching. Despite the barriers and challenges with GBL as a method, it can also be seen as an opportunity to engage and empower teachers, giving them a feeling of ownership of teaching and providing new learning experiences for them as well</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">. Sufficient training and resources for teachers to apply GBL successfully, both pedagogically and practically, are needed</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">.</span></p></section><section id="sec2.3" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(46, 46, 46); font-family: NexusSerif, Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, STIXGeneral, &quot;Cambria Math&quot;, &quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&quot;, &quot;Microsoft Sans Serif&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;, &quot;Arial Unicode MS&quot;, serif; font-size: 18px;"><h3 id="sectitle0045" class="u-h4 u-margin-m-top u-margin-xs-bottom" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(80, 80, 80); margin-top: 24px !important; margin-bottom: 8px !important; font-size: 1rem !important; line-height: 1.4 !important;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><b>2.3.&nbsp;Summary of findings in the literature</b></span></h3><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p id="p0130" style="margin-bottom: 16px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Hence it is, summarizes the theoretical background</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;to help illuminate the current knowledge and analyze the findings of this study. Benefits for students learning and engagement profit teachers. Problems with teaching, learning, or engagement are mutual disadvantages compromising learning outcomes. Despite the strong connection between learners' and instructors’ experiences, columns “for student” and “for teacher” in the table depict who is mainly affected by the mentioned benefit or challenge.</span></p></div></section>