The increase in student engagement in the learning process has driven educators to use more dynamic pedagogical methodologies. Several studies have shown evidence of increased interest in learning when real-world problems are integrated into the learning environment. This paper presents the competencies developed by higher education students through application of the problem-based learning (PBL) methodology in higher education courses. The research begins with the identification of a set of competencies developed by higher education students in other studies developed and reported in the last five years and includes them in a survey to analyze the level of development of those competencies when problem-based learning is applied in university courses. To identify the competencies developed by applying the problem-based learning methodology, the research employed a document analysis and a survey of the students that participated in the experimental application. The research questions “What are the competencies developed by students in problem-based learning?” and “Are the competencies identified by the students sufficiently learned in universities?” guided the study. The competencies found by the students were identified through a questionnaire given as an online survey to 76 students. The key outcome of the research is the identification in the bachelor courses of the competencies perceived as essential by students participating in the application of PBL in terms of their advancement.

This study aims to understand airline passengers' satisfaction trends by analyzing the most influential factors on satisfaction before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consists of a dataset with 9745 passenger reviews published on airlinequality.com. The reviews were analyzed with a sentiment analysis tool calibrated for the aviation industry for accuracy. Machine learning algorithms were then implemented to predict review sentiment based on airline company, travelers' type and class, and country of origin. Findings show passengers were unhappy before the pandemic, aggravated after the COVID-19 outbreak. The staff's behavior is the main factor influencing passengers' satisfaction. Predictive modeling showed that it is possible to predict negative review sentiments with satisfactory performance rather than positive reviews. The main takeaway is that passengers, after the pandemic, are most worried about refunds and aircraft cabin cleanliness. From a managerial standpoint, airline companies can benefit from the created knowledge to adjust their strategies in agreement and meet their customers' expectations.

Gamification has been widely used in education due to its application to different contexts. The vast number of possibilities allows the creation of learning strategies that lead to students' success. Despite the high acceptance of gamification among several authors in educational contexts, there are many dispersed studies with high differences in their results. Although gamification impacts motivation, interest, and engagement, its effect on students' learning outcomes needs to be clarified. This study aims to investigate the effects of gamification on programming learning and the impact of the most used game concepts on knowledge acquisition. A multi‐level meta‐analysis was conducted on studies above K‐12 to understand the effects of gamification in programming learning. From 15 combined effect sizes, it was analyzed the effect of points, badges, levels, avatars, leaderboards, and the number of elements used. The results showed that gamification leads to a significant increase in the results (Cohen's d = 0.4) but essentially due to the use of levels (p < .05). Using badges, points, avatars, and leaderboards showed no significant effect on programming learning, suggesting that these elements may be more beneficial to motivating or engaging the students. Gamification can be efficient in programming learning, but it is recommended the use of levels.