Introduction:

Differentiated geographical and institutional contexts imply the need to analyze the effectiveness of teaching methodologies from unconventional approaches, in order to contrast generalist assumptions. One way is the analysis of the students' assessment of the learning method that is applied to them and their relationship with the fulfillment of the objectives of the courses they receive.

Objective:

To evaluate the student's perception on the effectiveness of the project-based learning method in the Colombian Caribbean in the Health Management course for the medical and nursing majors.

Methods:

A student’s perception questionnaire on the effectiveness of the project-based learning method was applied to two work groups. A chi-square and correlation of independent variables test was used in 340 students of the undergraduate course in Health Management. The student’s assessment about project-based learning and the conventional teaching method for meeting the objectives of the course were compared, and the transversal competencies that were assessed as better and worse during the learning process were identified.

Results:

Only the competencies problem solving and teamwork were found to have significant positive perceptions when project-based learning was used, together with the fact that student assessment was an ideal instrument that contributes to the analysis of the effectiveness of teaching methods in differentiated geographical contexts.

Conclusions:

The use of this instrument allows to know, in greater depth, the effectiveness of project-based learning in different contexts. The results demonstrate that student perception of project-based learning is relevant. This exploratory study favors other research that will analyze the impact of the application of this method, through the students' perception of the development of transversal skills.

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