From extracurricular to co-curricular CBL: A card deck to design flexibilization of learning in higher education

Introduction/Background Education is continually evolving to keep pace with society's transformations. With the grand societal challenges that the world faces today, there is a need to prepare students to make a difference (Opertti, 2023). Proper preparation also means that educational institutions need to allow students to take control, both of their learning and over the learning process. However, different students have different needs, which becomes even more clear as education becomes more personalized. In transforming education towards increased societal impact, there is a preference for new learning environments that allow science, society, and companies to interact (Giesenbauer & Müller-Christ, 2020). Setting up these new learning environments is a challenge in and of itself, especially while balancing flexibility and validity of education (Salazar-Gómez et al., 2020). A different strategy might be to look at how the learning in non-traditional learning environments is organised and to adapt curricula to facilitate these environments as formal education. These practically proven learning environments can then be transformed to allow students to continue learning in new and exciting ways, while implementing processes and practices that allow for formal acknowledgement of their learning. Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) takes on this challenge by investigating the further flexibilization of education. Part of these efforts include research performed by TU/e innovation Space, with the goal to acknowledge the learning in the Extracurricular Student Team Program at TU/e innovation Space (TU/e, 2019) . This environment encompasses Challenge-Based Learning by allowing students to work on highly technical and innovative projects, while still requiring them to self-direct their learning. While doing so, they develop both the technology and their competences on multiple levels. This environment is now the main subject for flexibilization efforts, following up years of exploratory research that have proven the educational value (see e.g., Bravo, 2024). By connecting existing educational concepts to this environment, validated educational environments can be developed that are known to match with students' goals and ways of learning. The challenge that remains is how to transform known and proven educational concepts to a new environment in which these are difficult to replicate. For example, should intended learning outcomes (ILOs) be decided upon before or after the students start their learning activities (i.e., journey in the extracurricular student team)? Should additional learning activities be introduced, or will students organize this themselves? Are there existing programs under which organizational aspects can be organized? A team at TU/e, consisting of educational designers, policy makers and program directors, has created a card deck to facilitate the discussion on how to transition to validated, non-traditional learning environments. This tool and the resulting discussion focusses on incorporating extracurricular learning environments through educational concepts. Thus, moving from extracurricular towards co-curricular education. This card deck allows participants to think about how certain components of traditional education, such as intended learning outcomes (ILOs) or validation of learning/assessment, might apply to a different learning environment. Through this card deck, a new learning approach was co-developed to facilitate co-curricular education in the learning environment of the Student Team Program at TU/e innovation Space. This card deck serves to engage participants in discussions to co-create and design flexible learning environments. The tools that are developed are now being made available through this workshop. Workshop design The workshop consists of three parts: (i) an introductory presentation, (ii) an active exercise with the cards, and (iii) a group discussion on the results: Introduction presentation (10 minutes): A presentation on the goal of the workshop and the context in which the workshop material was developed. Participants are guided through the flexibilization efforts at TU/e, starting with the original challenge, discussing the development of the card deck, and ending with the progress that has been made in flexibilization of education at TU/e through the Student Teams program. Not only will this provide background information for the remainder of the workshop, but it also shows the real-life impact that the learning offers the participants. Active exercise with the cards (30 minutes): The different card types, their purpose and meaning are explained. After this, the participants split into groups and discuss potential flexibilization at either their own educational institutions or a (fictional) case study that has been prepared. The participants use the different card types to explore characteristics and components that contribute to flexible education. The goal here is to generate discussion on the effects that different decisions have. For example, should intended learning outcomes (ILOs) goals be decided upon before or after the students start their learning activities? What are the consequences of that decision on ILOs to design the learning environment? Additional blank cards are available to write down new insights that might pop up. Group discussion (20 minutes): Each group shortly describes the scenario that they created. The focus here is on discussing the cards that were most controversial and new insights that might have popped up. This part will take a total of 20 minutes, split between the different groups. Educational impact At the end of the workshop, the participants will have increased awareness about the characteristics and factors that drive flexibilization efforts in education. Important decisions are identified and discussed, resulting in practical insights through a better understanding of how education at their educational institutions might be made more flexible. Participants: The workshop is open for everyone to join but is designed for, and achieves the most impact, with policy makers, educational designers, program directors and education coordinators. For an optimal execution of the activity, up to 25 participants (5 groups of 5) can be accommodated.