Competencies in business degrees: A face-to-face and online comparative study

Implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) represented a shift from a content-based model to one that places competencies at the center of the learning processes. In university higher education, competency-based design helps in drawing up programs based on academic and professional profiles that meet the needs of society.

The scientific article that we present today talks about this topic, which is written by Raquel Ferreras Garcia, Jordi Sales Zaguirre, and Enric Serradell López, members of Management and e-Learning (MeL) research group, together with Carme Ribas. The article was published in Journal of Education for Business in 2021.

Objectives and Methodology

The main aim of this study is to compare students’ competencies and learning outcomes in two different learning environments: face-to-face and online. To do this, the study analyses the extent to which the main generic competencies are acquired and learning outcomes achieved among students while undertaking their final bachelor’s degree project (FBP) in the field of entrepreneurship.

It also particularly takes into account whether the business plan is produced in a classroom-based or online university, to establish whether the development of competencies and learning outcomes differs with the teaching-learning method employed for students.

Results and conclusions

The results how that students in practice firms excelled in ethics, information searching, critical analysis, and synthesis. Interestingly, competency acquisition levels varied between face-to-face and online students, contrary to previous studies suggesting no notable differences. Online students demonstrated strength in information and ICT-related competencies, while face-to-face students performed better in critical analysis, synthesis, and ethics.

The study highlighted the effectiveness of business plans in helping students acquire generic competencies, with high competency acquisition levels observed in both learning environments. Additionally, online students, based on the sample analyzed, obtained lower scores for learning outcomes compared to their face-to-face counterparts, aligning with previous research indicating online students’ overall poorer performance.

The research contributes to bridging a gap in the literature by offering a comparative analysis of competencies and learning outcomes between classroom-based and online universities, providing insights for adapting teaching methodologies to address identified deficiencies. Furthermore, the study identifies ICT use and information management as influential competencies on learning outcomes, with ethics showing the least influence.

These findings offer valuable insights for educators, institutions, and policymakers in enhancing business degree programs and teaching approaches to improve students’ competencies and learning outcomes.

Consult the article

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