Challenge-Based Learning in STEM and Beyond: Designing Real-World Learning in Higher Education
How can higher education prepare students to address complex societal, technological, and professional challenges? This workshop introduces Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) as a learner-centered, practice-oriented approach that connects academic learning with real-world problems.
CBL is characterized by authentic challenges, interdisciplinary inquiry, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, reflection, and the development of actionable solutions. A widely used CBL framework is structured around three interconnected phases: Engage, Investigate, and Act, supported throughout by documentation, reflection, and sharing. In higher education, CBL can be integrated at different levels: within a single course, across modules, through project weeks, in capstone formats, or as part of broader curriculum and institutional transformation.
The potential of CBL lies in its capacity to make learning more relevant, active, and socially connected. When carefully designed, it can support student motivation, skill development, professional orientation, collaboration, and the ability to work with uncertainty in complex contexts.
The workshop will be led by Dr. Jorge Membrillo Hernández, a scholar and educator from Tecnológico de Monterrey/Mexico with extensive experience in Challenge-Based Learning, engineering education, educational innovation, socially oriented STEM education, and interdisciplinary learning design. He holds a doctorate in Biotechnology from King’s College London and has completed postdoctoral stays at the University of Sheffield and Harvard University. He is associated with the Institute for the Future of Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey and has been internationally recognized for his work on CBL and the Tec21 educational model.
In this interactive workshop, participants will gain both conceptual and practical insight into CBL. The session will include:
- an introduction to CBL as a teaching and learning method;
- selected research findings on the effectiveness and impact of CBL in higher education;
- practical examples from higher education contexts;
- an initial hands-on activity to experience key elements of the CBL process;
- guided idea development, enabling participants to explore how CBL could be adapted to their own courses, programs, or institutional settings.
The workshop is designed for university teachers, program directors, curriculum developers, and educational developers who are interested in strengthening student engagement, connecting learning with real-world challenges, and developing innovative teaching formats.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the principles of Challenge-Based Learning, concrete examples of implementation, and initial ideas for designing CBL activities in their own academic contexts.