Educating students in close relation with stakeholders is part of different educational programmes. For example through guest lectures or real-live project assignments. In Challenge-Based Learning, stakeholder involvement is taken a step further. The stakeholder needs to be guided in the role in the CBL process.
Stakeholder as problem/challenge provider
In recent years, higher education invested in collaboration with stakeholders, for example, as a guest speaker or problem owner in projects. Challenge providers involvement within CBL takes this a step further. In the ideal situation, they consider students as partners.
- Therefore, it is probably best to inform stakeholders of the 'risks' involved when students try to solve problems, for example:
- There is no guarantee that what is being considered will either be unique or useful.
- The more options being considered, the greater the cognitive load, and the greater the risk of wasting time or energy.
- Nevertheless, with CBL, options should not be rejected out of hand, at least at first, simply because they run the risk of being wasteful.
- The main idea is the willingness to entertain ideas that are not obviously related to the Challenge at hand, which means keeping, at least for the time being, value judgments to the minimum.
Other stakeholders
Students enter the real world, involving all stakeholders and community members who could be affected by the solution.