WP 2: Learning from the recent experiments

Learning from the recent experiments

This work package aims to identify which CBL practices enhance students' engagement in their studies and to provide insights into the experiences of students, the perceived benefits and challenges. It includes articles on the experiences of students in CBL, as well as on the development of CBL courses from teachers' perspectives.

Characteristics of the early CBL courses

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We used students鈥� evaluation surveys in several CBL courses to explore student experiences regarding five key course design characteristics: how interdisciplinary and linked to real-life problems courses were, how entrepreneurial and hands-on they were, and how much they contributed to students鈥� personal and team development.

Students rated most of the courses highly in achieving these characteristics, with more variance regarding how interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial courses were ()

Case studies

To unpack the transformative potential of CBL in higher education, we perform
several case studies to  investigate various aspects of CBL implementation:

In an interdisciplinary, semester-long master course Innovation Space Project (ISP), we investigated entrepreneurial mindset development in STEM students and found that this CBL course enhances students鈥� key competencies such as adaptability, problem-solving, resilience, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Furthermore, this educational strategy not only strengthens technical skills but also fosters a deep understanding of value creation for societal benefit, crucial for entrepreneurial success (Lazendic-Galloway, Wetters, Guri, & Reymen, to be submitted).

In the physics master鈥檚 course Plasma Processing Science and Technology, that explores the application of plasma physics in the industry, we found that students experience the work required by this CBL course challenging but useful for creatively applying their knowledge and for learning useful career skills (Lazendic-Galloway, Mackus & Deijkers, to be submitted).

In an interdisciplinary, combined third-year bachelor's and master's level course Lab on a Chip/Microdevices course using a CBL approach, we investigated the course design, implementation, and impact on students鈥� learning. The findings reveal students' appreciation for practical application and industry collaboration, though issues with class preparation and guidelines were noted. The study provides a blueprint for designing hands-on Microfluidics courses in collaboration with industry and demonstrates CBL's potential to enhance technical proficiency and foster innovation in interdisciplinary engineering education (Gumuscu, Li, Bakal, Stassen, Wyss & Lazendic-Galloway, submitted).

Long-term impact of CBL

Regarding student learning outcomes in CBL, prior research has found benefits for CBL students, but the data have often been collected during or right after the course which does not allow for inferences on whether these learning outcomes are lasting.

Currently, we are surveying all students who ever participated in a CBL course at 黑料福利网 innovation Space, about their course motivation, advantages, and disadvantages of CBL and key learnings and competence development they derived from the CBL course (Helker et al., in preparation).

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