Evaluating the Effectiveness of an MS Project Webinar in Enhancing Construction Students’ Digital Scheduling Awareness, Perceived Usefulness, and Future Industry Readiness

Abstract

This study examines how an MS Project webinar helped final-year students improve their awareness of digital scheduling and understand its relevance to future construction practice. With digital project management becoming increasingly important in construction education, the study focused on students’ scheduling awareness, the challenges they faced in learning or applying MS Project, and their views on the effectiveness of the webinar. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 69 usable responses from 106 final-year students involved in an Infrastructure Design Project-related learning setting. The data were analysed using SmartPLS through measurement and structural model assessments. The results showed strong reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity in the measurement model, although some HTMT values indicated that scheduling awareness, perceived usefulness, and future industry demand were closely related. In the structural model, project scheduling awareness and the effectiveness of the webinar had a significant effect on students’ perceived usefulness of MS Project. However, learning and implementation challenges did not have a significant influence. The strongest finding was that students who found MS Project useful were also more likely to believe that digital scheduling skills would be important in the construction industry. At the same time, perceived usefulness did not significantly affect the overall webinar rating, suggesting that students’ satisfaction may also depend on factors such as delivery style, interaction, and engagement. Overall, the findings suggest that webinar-based technical exposure can help build digital construction readiness, but stronger competence requires hands-on practice, guided software activities, and closer integration with project-based learning.