Empowering Changemakers in Challenge-Based Learning: Applying the Transition Makers Toolbox for Competency Development

We live in a complex world amid significant transitions-such as climate change, population growth, healthcare accessibility, and digitalization. Shaping these transitions to support a sustainable future requires vision, leadership, and the ability to initiate and guide transformative processes. This necessity calls for an educational approach where students acquire the skills, mindsets, and attitudes needed to shape these transitions. These include abilities like collaboration, reflection, connecting diverse perspectives, bridging people and ideas, resilience, and the courage to innovate and challenge the status quo. This workshop introduces educators to the Transition Makers Toolbox (https://transitionmakers.nl/), a resource developed in collaboration between the EWUU Alliance (an innovative partnership between Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research, Utrecht University, and Utrecht Medical University) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) at the University of Amsterdam. Together, these institutions are committed to empowering students to become active changemakers through education that directly addresses societal and environmental challenges. The toolbox is built upon the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) framework, providing practical tools to develop these essential change-making competencies. By integrating these tools into Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), this workshop equips educators with methods to foster these critical skills, preparing students to address global challenges with insight and purpose. This highly interactive workshop, is focusing on collaborative work among the participants. The participants will be called to work in duos, and teams of four. During the workshop there will be collective reflection and sharing moments in plenary. Below you can find more information regarding the proposed structure of the session: - Introduction: We'll begin with a brief overview of the Transition Makers Toolbox and the Inner Development Goals (IDGs), highlighting their relevance to Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and their role in building essential student competencies for change-making. Participants will then engage in a reflective exercise using the Transition Makers Card Deck, pairing up to explore reflective questions that connect CBL principles with personal insights on student development and course design. - Teambuilding: As a group, we'll engage in a hands-on teambuilding exercise using one of the tools from the Transition Makers Toolbox. This activity is designed to help participants experience and practice team-building techniques that foster collaboration, clarify team values, and strengthen a sense of purpose. This shared exercise will give participants direct experience with tools they can later adapt to their own CBL courses. - Design activity: In this activity, participants will work collaboratively to design or enhance a CBL course using existing templates that integrate specific tools from the Transition Makers Toolbox. Depending on group size and the phase of the course design, participants will consult structured tables that guide tool selection based on several key factors: Learning objectives, design phase, student and project needs, practical considerations. Together, we'll work through these consulting tables, exploring the various options available and choosing tools that best support a CBL approach in alignment with your specific educational context and objectives. - Closing: We'll wrap up with a reflective exercise, encouraging participants to consider their key takeaways and craft a personal "take-home message" to apply in their own educational contexts. In a brief plenary session, participants will share these reflections, offering collective insights and reinforcing connections within the group. Each participant will also leave with a curated selection of tools from the Transition Makers Toolbox, along with templates to help them integrate these tools into their courses. Additionally, they'll have the opportunity to connect with a broader network through our LinkedIn hub, where we share research updates, practical stories, and collaborative insights. Participants are invited not only to share their findings and designs in our monthly newsletter but also to contribute new tools or practices they've developed themselves, enriching the community and expanding the toolbox with fresh, field-tested resources.