Chronos: A tool to develop the time management competence among engineering students.

ABSTRACT The development of cross-curricular competences is one of the challenges European higher education is facing as consequence of the establishment of the European Higher Education Area (AHEA). One of these competences is the 'time management,' an instrumental ability related to manage personal and working time. Time management seems to be a significant competence for engineering professionals, but despite its importance, the empirical literature linking such competence with the engineering teach remains limited. By addressing this research gap, the main purpose of this research is to gain insights into whether Chronos, a computer-based game, proves efficient to train time management and change the perception of engineering students about the role played by this competence to improve productivity. In order to reach this goal, we perform an exploratory empirical study, based on data retrieved from 72 engineering students, which are analyzed by applying different statistical analysis (mainly mean test and regression analysis). Findings indicate that Chronos is a successful tool to develop time management competence in the context of engineering degrees. Thus, the present article promotes the reflection on the difficulties teachers face in the development of cross-curricular competences and proposes new areas requiring further investigation, which are also discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 25:79-89, 2017; View this article online at ; DOI [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]