Boosting Entrepreneurial Mindset of Students with Challenge-Based Learning

The project aimed to achieve four main objectives: (1) to build awareness among teachers and students and increase their proficiency in understanding the potential and possibilities of Challenge-B...

The project aimed to achieve four main objectives: (1) to build awareness among teachers and students and increase their proficiency in understanding the potential and possibilities of Challenge-Based Learning in teaching and learning in a more engaging and effective way; (2) to develop a NextGen Entrepreneurs course for students of the consortium's universities, strengthening the exchange of experiences in the field of entrepreneurship education; (3) to provide teaching staff and personnel involved in quality assurance processes with methodology, tools, training and guidelines for the application of CBL in various areas of entrepreneurship education; and (4) support the development of digital competences of teachers and students by introducing tools and methods that increase engagement in the teaching and learning process. At the same time, the aim was to promote an inclusive approach and to create an ecosystem of resources, including an online platform, to enable the implementation and scaling of results.

The project achieved the following: a) project management and coordination (working meetings, reporting, risk management); b) a CBL methodology for entrepreneurship education and a teacher training programme were developed, including the first open access and certified online training for educators (comprising a total of 4 modules and over 12 hours of self-study, 24 interactive elements, 24 microlearning sessions); c) the NextGen Entrepreneurs course (3 modules) was prepared, together with instructions, sections, support in the form of a course framework on the platform and pilot evaluation tools; d) the ENTER-CBL platform was launched and improved (requirements analysis, pre-implementation report, development and workshops for users); e) a collection of certified microlearning modules for students was prepared and made available in open access; f) a pilot course and an international Student Bootcamp in Istanbul were carried out; f) the results of the pilots were analyzed and recommendations were developed; g) the results were disseminated through the project website, multiplier events, workshops and presentations in international networks, creating the groundwork for further use and scaling of the results.

The most important outcome of the project was the development and launch of a complete CBL ecosystem dedicated to entrepreneurship education: the NextGen Entrepreneurs course (3 modules,3 ECTS) tailored to the CBL methodology with tools, guidelines and a curriculum for teachers – designed to be reusable and scalable. At the same time, the ENTER-CBL platform was launched as a gateway and implementation environment (access to courses, resources, guidelines, and cooperation and communication channels). The implementation part included pilot courses and an international Bootcamp, the results of which were documented in a set of reports (including descriptions of the pilot courses, an implementation report, a Bootcamp report and an evaluation report), which provided specific recommendations for further implementation. The effects were confirmed by an evaluation based on pre/post surveys and LMS data – during the pilot tests, over 280 users were recorded on the platform (527 users on the day the projects ended in various platform resources), which indicated the actual use of the course tools, resources and structures. In addition, in the area of dissemination and sustainability, results were prepared to ensure the transfer of practices.