Extended abstract
One of the main features of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is that the Challenge Provider (CP) is an actor external to the teaching setting. Often, this actor belongs to a different organisation becoming what we refer to as an external stakeholder. In the context of higher education institutions, we define external stakeholders as organizations whose primary activities occur outside academia but who have interest in the institution's objectives and activities. However, in some cases, the CP may not be a stakeholder but simply an external actor (EA); for instance, a teacher from the same university might propose a challenge related to a personal project. For this reason, we consider the essential requirement for being a CP to be coming from outside the pedagogical setting, acting as a third party separate from both teachers and learners. In this context, our contribution is related to educational initiatives and focuses on the transformation of EAs into CPs within a mandatory CBL course. Over the years, we have noticed that the success of Challenge-Based activities and the quality of student learning are closely linked to how effectively EAs are transformed into CPs. However, on our knowledge, the current literature on CBL does not adequately cover the role of EAs within CBL, even if some valuable contributions can be found. The presence of CPs in CBL courses is fundamental: through the intersection of open and real-world problems and educational activities, CBL can be presented as a pedagogical approach suitable for acquiring the knowledge and skills that are essential for the 21st century. In this poster we present our experiences based on a 6-ECTS mandatory curricular course designed for second-year Master’s students in Computer Science (CS) who are following a curriculum that integrates CS with Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E). Since 2017, the course has adopted CBL, and every year involves from 4 to 7 EAs as CPs, and students ranging from 35 to 70. A significant characteristic of this course is the presence of multiple CPs in each edition. In this regard, we observe interesting similarities and differences with the model of multi-CBL presented by Ramírez-Cadena et al. during the 2024 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference. "First contact" with an EA can be challenging to establish. We have defined various strategies to employ when identifying EAs before the course begins. These include: 1) leveraging formal networks of organizations already involved in I&E projects; 2) partnering with local innovation hubs; 3) personal contacts developed through previous collaborations. Additionally, another interesting and feasible strategy (which we have not yet explored) could involve issuing a public call for EAs interested in engaging with the university. In all the cases mentioned above, establishing a trust-based relationship between EAs and teachers is essential, with transparency and completeness of information as its foundation. Therefore, we have created an "information package" that facilitates "first contact". This package is a written presentation that outlines what a CBL course is, how it is structured, the learning objectives, and the staff involved. We also provide information about the profile of the students and the commitment required from them. We specify the types of challenges we are looking for and provide examples. Additionally, we clarify that challenges are not just tasks: each challenge should allow for broad thematic exploration of a specific problem. We also inform the EAs about the potential benefits of participation, as well as the commitments they would need to make. We usually ask the EAs to provide data/contacts, insights and internal perspectives from their organization, to participate in one of the initial course classes (challenges and CPs presentation), in one of the final appointments (oral exam for students), and to engage in some catch-up meetings with students (one meeting every two or three weeks) to ensure that the learning process is rooted in real life. Finally, we provide them with a template (what we call a "challenge descriptor") in which they can describe the challenge with the support of the designated teacher. The EA is required to provide some basic information regarding the name of the organization, the title of the challenge and some keywords that can summarize the problem at stake. Then, there are five important sections to fulfill: - challenge context: students should be able to gain a clear understanding of the EA. The EA should assume it is addressing an audience with minimal prior knowledge about it. To facilitate this, we provide the EA with a set of "guiding questions." - challenge description: students should understand why the EA wants to propose a challenge and, broadly, what the challenge is. The EA is free to express the challenge in any way it prefers, but we consider some elements quite helpful: 2a) clear relevance (challenges should represent "big ideas"); 2b) no obvious single solution (challenges should be open-ended); 2c) a call to action (challenges should prompt students to work on them); - maximum number of teams: the number of teams (4-5 students each) that can choose to deal with a specific challenge during the course (we avoid having more than 2 teams per CP to not overload it); - expected outcomes: some examples are a reflection report, a policy survey, a business analysis, a business model, go-to-market scenarios, an MVP, assess the business potential of a novel technology for application areas and/or markets; - (optional) material for inspiration: websites, articles, books, or any material that could get the students inspired about the challenge. Between the "first contact" and the "challenge description", the EAs undergo a "transformation". In this phase, we frequently interact with them through phone calls, emails, online and in-person meetings. Obtaining a written "challenge description" marks the end of the preparatory phase of each challenge. Through our proposal we aim to show that, ultimately, to reap most of the benefits of CBL, the most essential step that each institution needs to perform is to create a solid process of conversion of external actors to Challenge Providers.
