Over 30 submissions, 26 of which were accepted
The recent call to submit a proposal for the implementation of challenge-based learning in university education did not go unnoticed. A total of 32 ideas were submitted, of which 26 have now been honoured. The total available budget of 368 thousand euros has been spent. Responsible for organizing were UT and ECIU University.
The purpose of the call is to encourage educational innovation. ‘And this time the focus is on challenge-based learning’, says Rianne Kaptijn, Local Ambassador of ECIU, the European Consortium of European Universities. ‘Together with the UT, we want to encourage challenge-based learning (CBL) in education. During this learning method, students work on real, existing assignments and do so in teams in which professionals and researchers also participate.’
Cold case
Kaptijn is ‘very happy’ with the number of initiatives, which are also very diverse. For example, there is a minor called ‘cold case’. In which, as the name suggests, students from UT and Saxion work together with the police academy on an unsolved crime. ‘And there are challenges from the EEMCS faculty about energy transition and CBL in Computer Science. Also very exciting. The TNW faculty, among others, came up with natural and engineering research in challenge-based learning, yet also with a question about the role of the teacher in CBL’, says Kaptijn.
Proposals could be submitted at various levels: course (19), faculty (1) and cross-faculty level (5). The content varied on three themes: improving the quality of CBL as a teaching method (15), strengthening external relations (9) and strategic, organisation-oriented proposals (2).
Challenge-based learning is high on the University of Twente's agenda and fits in with its ambitions concerning educational innovation. The ECIU University, a partner of the UT, offers room to experiment with CBL and other innovative teaching methods.
Would you like to know more? Send an e-mail to: cbl-ces@twente.nl
Or read teacher Sikke Jansma’s story here and be inspired.
