Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is increasingly being adopted at the University of Twente as a way to connect education with real-world problems or “wicked problems”as the more correct term would be and foster active, student-centered learning. In this interview, we speak with Adina, an educational advisor who has been closely working with teachers to support and guide the implementation of CBL across different programmes. She shares practical insights, reflections, and stories from teachers’experiences, highlighting the potential and the challenges of this approach.
could you briefly introduce yourself and give us an overview of how Challenge-Based Learning is being used across the university?
I am an educational advisor at the University of Twente, where I support teachers in designing, implementing, assessing, and evaluating their education and specifically Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) courses. In parallel, I am a PhD candidate focusing on student empowerment in higher engineering education, where inter-and-transdisciplinary approaches to learning like CBL play a central role.
At UT, CBL has grown from a niche innovation into a widely used educational approach. Some programmes, such as the Master’s in Robotics and the Humanitarian Engineering programme, use CBL as a structural element throughout their curriculum, with CBL projects embedded in every module. In addition, many individual courses across all faculties apply CBL principles.
Overall, CBL is becoming an increasingly natural and recognised part of education at the UT, at programme level and within individual courses and minors.
From your experience working with teachers, what usually excites them most about trying CBL, and what tends to worry them at the beginning?
What often excites teachers new to CBL is the strong connection to real-world, wickedproblems. CBL allows students to work on authentic societal challenges and to experience how their disciplinary knowledge can be used to create impact beyond the university. Teachers often see this as a way to bridge the gap between academic learning and professional practice.
At the same time, their main concern is workload and uncertainty. Designing a CBL course requires a substantial initial investment of time and energy. However, almost always teachers note that the investment was worth it for student learning and course value. Teachers also worry about losing control: they cannot fully predict the learning paths, the solutions students will develop, or the exact outcomes of the projects. This creates questions about managing student and stakeholder expectations. Such ambiguity can be both inspiring and intimidating.
What does CBL look like in practice when does it work well in a course?
More information about the CBL framework in practice can be found here:
In a nutshell, in CBL, students engage with a real societal problem, formulate an actionable challenge, collaborate with external stakeholders, and develop solutions that are meaningful and implementable. The CBL framework describes this as a process with three phases – Engage, Investigate, and Act – supported by nine steps that guide students from problem exploration to impact creation.
A successful CBL course not only leads to a product or solution, but also helps students understand how impact is created: how to work with stakeholders, how to deal with uncertainty, and how to integrate different types of knowledge. An important element is making this impact visible, for example by reflecting on what the project meant for the stakeholder, the field, and for the students’ own professional development.
How does CBL change the role of the teacher in the classroom, and what skills or mindsets do teachers need to develop to feel comfortable with this shift?
CBL fundamentally shifts the teacher’s role from expert instructor to learning coach. Instead of primarily transmitting knowledge, teachers guide students’ learning processes, support team dynamics, and help them navigate uncertainty.
It asks for a different mindset and a few key skills: being more of a coach than a lecturer, guiding reflection, asking good questions, and supporting students to take ownership of their learning; being flexible and open to uncertainty and to outcomes that cannot be fully planned in advance; being able to work with external stakeholders and manage their expectations; and looking at learning in a holistic way, by assessing not only final products but also the learning process, collaboration, and personal development. For many teachers, this shift represents a significant but ultimately rewarding professional development journey.
In your conversations with teachers who have implemented CBL, experiences can you share?
Teachers and students sometimes wonder whether a ten-week project is enough to create real impact, and whether strong disciplinary foundations are maintained when learning paths become more flexible and transdisciplinary.
Figure: Three disciplinary approaches distinguished by degree and method of integration: Adapted from de Greef et al. (2017)
A recurring ‘aha-moment’ is the realisation that CBL does not have to follow the framework rigidly. Some teachers successfully combine CBL principles with the design thinking cycle or emphasise particular phases depending on their educational intentions. This adaptive use of CBL often leads to more meaningful and context-sensitive learning designs. Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to CBL course design —it can (and should) be tailored to the learning goals and the context.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of CBL at the UT?
My hope is that CBL will continue to become an integrated, well-understood, and well-supported option within UTs educational repertoire. I hope to see growth of a strong CBL teaching community, supported by professional development training focusing on CBL-related competencies. In such ways, I hope that teachers will feel empowered to use CBL skillfully and meaningfully.
What I would like teachers who are starting with CBL to take away is this: Begin with your educational intentions and learning goals. Clarify the kind of learning you want students to achieve, and then explore whether and how CBL can support that. When used with purpose, CBL offers a powerful way for students to learn how to engage with wicked problems and to create real societal impact.
And importantly: you dont have to do this alone. Here at UT, we have a wide range of teachers who have experimented with CBL in many different ways reach out to them, learn from their experiences, and get inspired. And of course, your educational advisors are always available for a chat and are there to support you as you design and refine your approach.
