Abstract

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is becoming a key competence for companies handling numerous projects simultaneously. PPM instructors have been largely unable to transform what is being taught into applicable skills. Gamification has been successfully applied in some educational environments and it has been increasingly applied in Management university courses. The objective of this study is to propose and assess a gamified strategy for teaching Project Portfolio Management to MBA students. The implementation of this gamified experience was carried out in 2018, 2019 and 2020 with 122 students. They were quite satisfied with the gamified experience and recognized that the Portfolio Game Experience contributed to learning different PPM techniques and processes, especially those associated with project prioritization and selection. Moreover, 100% of the respondents would recommend the course to a colleague. By qualitatively analyzing students’ feedback, this study has found out that the Portfolio Game Experience provided the students the practical experience of actively learning what they have seen in theory. Students also highlighted typical game characteristics that contribute to their learning, like the fact that the game is fun, challenging, motivating and interactive. When compared to other courses they have taken so far, students evaluate this experience as superior.