CBL implementation

Year: 2023

Type of publication: Conference paper

Abstract: Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) has become specifically popular in higher engineering education as it embraces authentic, active, and interdisciplinary learning that requires students’ self-direction and collaborative decision-making. The CBL compass (van den Beemt et al. 2023) has been widely applied to capture the variety of educational innovations under the CBL label regarding their vision, teaching and learning, and support. As the tool only captures the teachers' intentions and goals, the question remains whether discrepancies occur with student perceptions of the CBL learning environment that may cause friction. Therefore, this research project explored these discrepancies more thoroughly with teachers and students from CBL courses at four technical universities across Europe. First, to understand the commonalities and differences between the courses, all courses were mapped with the CBL compass. Analyses of the outcomes showed that the courses varied regarding their implementation of the 36 indicators of CBL represented by the tool – most strongly regarding collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, assessment, and aspects of learning technologies, facilities, and support. In the next step, we applied the student version of the CBL compass to understand student perception of these indicators and capture differences with teachers' intentions. The results mostly show a high agreement between teachers' intentions and students' perceptions. Friction arises in indicators regarding the complexity of the challenge, the involvement of external stakeholders, and the assessment. The results do not only help our understanding of student learning gains and experiences in CBL but may feed back into teachers’ CBL design processes. 

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Year: 2023

Type of publication: Conference paper

Abstract:The Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Systems (AI&ES) is an interdisciplinary master program coordinated by the Electrical Engineering department at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Netherlands. The university has chosen to create an interdepartmental master program on AI&ES as opposed to multiple departmental programs. The goal is to strengthen interdisciplinary education and to educate T-shaped and π-shaped engineers for the future. From a curriculum development perspective, it is relevant to investigate how the AI&ES program integrates interdisciplinary education and what is the effect on students’ learning. In this case study we focus on investigating (1) How to design an interdisciplinary curriculum; (2) How to support teachers in designing and integrating interdisciplinary elements in courses and projects. The method for this study follows a design-based and action research approach to create a vision on interdisciplinary education and bring about change in the context of the AI&ES curriculum. A series of workshops (N=3) were organized (1) to generate common knowledge and understanding by collaboratively identifying what the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary elements are relevant to construct a curriculum line; (2) to support academic teaching staff to reflect upon interdisciplinary research findings to redesign education and enhance improvement of practice. Academic staff were interviewed and focus groups with students were organized to collect information on students’ perceptions. Preliminary findings from teachers’ interviews show that it is important to create a learning line from awareness to the application of interdisciplinary elements throughout the curriculum. Assignments where students in groups make use of data research and data collection methods from different domains, provided the room to work on open-ended tasks and to reflect on the integration of interdisciplinary education. Differences among teachers lie in the vision on interdisciplinary education and how to apply it in courses.

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Year: 2022

Type of publication: Book chapter

Abstract: This chapter presents a case study of building TU/e innovation Space, a unique learning hub for developing, sustaining, and disseminating research-informed challenge-based learning (CBL) practices at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). This learning hub for education innovation fosters the collaboration between students, industry, research, and societal organizations and drives the continued development of the CBL approach at TU/e. The chapter presents insights from the development of CBL at TU/e innovation Space, drawn from postcourse evaluation surveys of two flagship courses, the innovation Space Bachelor End Project (ISBEP; third year bachelor level) and the innovation Space Project (ISP; master’s course level). Analysis of the data shows that students generally rated the courses highly. As the main motivation to choose these courses, students cited the desire to do something else than their own major, aiming for interdisciplinarity and breadth of knowledge, and wanting to do something real-life or business-like. Students also liked the ability to choose their own project, but in some cases, struggled with the structure of the assessment. We also briefly describe academics’ perspective on running CBL courses at the hub and present additional activities related to the full learning ecosystem of the hub. Finally, we describe some of the future directions in terms of CBL research and educational developments at the hub.

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Year: 2022

Type of publication: Book chapter

Abstract: The chapter presents the implementation of ethics education via challenge-based learning (CBL) in three European settings. At TU Eindhoven (the Netherlands), a mandatory first-year User, Society, and Enterprise course on the ethics and history of technology offers a CBL alternative on ethics and data analytics in collaboration with internal student and research teams. The University of Lübeck (Germany) initiated the project CREATE – Challenge-based Learning for Robotics Students by Engaging Start-Ups in Technology Ethics, which enables 60 students in Robotics and Autonomous Systems to integrate ethical and societal considerations into technological development processes, in cooperation with start-ups from a local accelerator. In Spain, CBI-Fusion Point brings together 40 students from business and law (ESADE), engineering and technology (Polytechnic University of Catalonia), and design (IED Barcelona Design University) for an innovation course focused on the application of CERN-developed technologies to real-world problems. The chapter documents the process of setting up three CBL courses that engage students with grand societal topics which require the integration of ethical concerns from the design stage of technological development. The authors also reflect on the challenges of teaching ethics via CBL and the lessons they learned by delivering experiential learning activities rooted in real-life challenges and contexts marked by high epistemic uncertainty. The contribution reflects the transition to remote teaching and presents strategies employed to enhance online communication and collaboration. The chapter thus provides guidance for instructors interested in teaching ethics via CBL and recommends further lines for action and research.

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