Creating a Learning Ecosystem for Developing, Sustaining, and Disseminating CBL the Case of TU/e Innovation Space

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.

Citation

Reymen, I., Bruns, M., Lazendic-Galloway, J., Helker, K., Cardona, A.V. and Vermunt, J.D. (2022), "Creating a Learning Ecosystem for Developing, Sustaining, and Disseminating CBL the Case of TU/e Innovation Space", Vilalta-Perdomo, E., Membrillo-Hernández, J., Michel-Villarreal, R., Lakshmi, G. and Martínez-Acosta, M. (Ed.) The Emerald Handbook of Challenge Based Learning, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 13-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-490-920221002