Methodology
Challenge-Based Learning (CBL)
Learning by solving real, open and relevant challenges, with solutions that are tested beyond the classroom.
What is challenge-based learning?
Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is an approach in which student teams start from a big idea, frame a real and open-ended challenge, investigate through guiding questions and act by implementing a solution whose impact they evaluate and document.
The framework was popularised from 2008 through Apple's "Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow—Today" initiative and has settled into three phases: Engage, Investigate and Act. Today it is used by universities worldwide, from institutions born with the model to large systems that have adopted it at scale.
Its defining feature is that the solution is not set in advance. The challenge connects with a problem that matters to a community or organisation, and disciplinary learning appears because it is needed to move forward, not because it is next on the syllabus.
Principles of challenge-based learning
Real, open challenges
Authentic problems from communities, companies or institutions, with no single right answer. Relevance drives engagement.
Integrated disciplines
A complex challenge requires combining technical, social and humanistic knowledge. Subjects become resources.
Teams and external partners
Diverse teams working with external partners who provide context and validate solutions.
Action with impact
The process ends with a solution implemented or tested in the real world, and with measuring what changed.
Reflection and evidence
Documenting decisions, learning and mistakes throughout the process is part of learning and assessment.
The phases of challenge-based learning
The Engage – Investigate – Act framework structures the work without constraining it. Each phase produces evidence that feeds assessment.
1. Engage: from big idea to challenge
It starts from a broad big idea (mobility, health, water, employment) and, through an essential question, the team narrows it down to a concrete, actionable challenge.
- Big idea and essential question
- Challenge framed with the external partner
- Agreed success criteria
2. Investigate: guiding questions and learning
The team identifies what it needs to know, designs activities and looks for resources. Much of the disciplinary learning happens here.
- Guiding questions and research plan
- Fieldwork, data and experts
- Synthesis and solution criteria
3. Act: solution, implementation and evaluation
A solution is designed, prototyped and implemented with real users, its effect is measured and the result is shared with the community.
- Prototyping and piloting
- Impact measurement
- Public presentation and final reflection
Reference method
The BeChallenge Method: an architecture for experiential learning
BeChallenge is an experiential learning ecosystem founded in Barcelona in 2017 that combines methodology, technology and expert support so that universities and schools can implement and scale challenge-based, project-based and case-based learning, service-learning and hackathons.
Its starting point is that a method is not a list of activities, but the invisible structure that holds them. That is why the BeChallenge Method is not a rigid sequence: it is an architecture with invariants that adapts to each institution.
The four pillars
Investigate
Inquire before opining: each student explores the problem individually and joins the team with their own point of view.
Connect
Systems thinking: see the system, not just the parts, anticipate consequences and design solutions that consider the whole.
Co-create
Collaboration that leaves a trace: every contribution to the team is visible and traceable.
Evaluate
From grading to development: continuous 360° assessment — self, peers, teachers and external actors — turned into evidence.
The seven reference phases
- 1
Discover
Individual discovery before forming teams: this is where free-riding dies.
- 2
Team
Teams form with perspectives already built, roles and commitments.
- 3
Ideate
Empathy with those who live the problem and co-creation of solutions.
- 4
Feedback
Teachers and external actors come in while the course can still change.
- 5
Prototype
Ideas become tangible, are tested and communicated.
- 6
Voting
Solutions are showcased and selected against transparent criteria.
- 7
Evaluate
360° closing on skills and on the experience itself, turned into graduate-profile evidence.
The method is elastic: 7, 5 or 3 phases with the same architecture. Every phase closes with metacognition (what did I learn and how?) and assessment (what evidence do I leave?), so learning consolidates along the way instead of being examined only at the end.
It builds on Kolb's experiential learning cycle, Dewey's learning by doing, Vygotsky's social constructivism, design thinking, systems thinking, metacognition and assessment for development.
Disclosure: Xavi Pascual, author of Challenger Universities, is the founder of BeChallenge.
Universities using challenge-based learning
Some of the institutions in the directory that have put challenges at the heart of their educational model:
Minerva University
Combines active seminars on its Forum platform with projects in the cities where students live, applying habits of mind to local and global problems.
View profileLIS – London Interdisciplinary School
Builds its degree around complex real-world problems and works with external organisations that set challenges for students.
View profileAfrican Leadership University
Replaces majors with "missions": each student chooses one of Africa's grand challenges and directs their learning towards solving it.
View profileAalborg University
A global benchmark for problem- and project-based learning since 1974; its group projects start from real problems, often with companies and institutions.
View profileBenefits of challenge-based learning
Meaningful learning
The relevance of the challenge increases motivation and the transfer of knowledge to new situations.
Skills for the AI era
Framing problems, deciding with incomplete information and collaborating are capabilities that are hard to automate.
Connection with the community
Partnerships with companies, governments and NGOs open up employability and position the institution.
Authentic evidence
The process leaves a trail — decisions, prototypes, data — that shows what students can actually do.
Common mistakes when implementing it
Fake challenges
If the challenge is a disguised exercise, students notice and engagement is lost.
Assessing only the final product
With generative AI, the product no longer proves learning: the process and decisions must be assessed.
No time or structure
A challenge squeezed between exams and fragmented timetables becomes extra workload.
How to implement challenge-based learning at your university
The difference between a pilot and an institutional model lies in the design of the system:
- 1Start from the graduate profile: which capabilities people must be able to demonstrate when they finish.
- 2Reserve blocks of time and credits for challenges within the curriculum, not outside it.
- 3Build a portfolio of external partners who bring real challenges every semester.
- 4Develop faculty as experience designers and team coaches.
- 5Redesign assessment so it relies on evidence of the process, not only on the outcome.
Frequently asked questions about challenge-based learning
Who created challenge-based learning?
The framework was launched in 2008 through Apple's "Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow—Today" initiative and was later developed by an international community of educators who formalised it into the Engage, Investigate and Act phases.
What is the difference between challenges and projects?
In a project it is usually known from the start which product will be created. In a challenge, the team starts from a big idea and discovers which concrete problem to tackle and which solution to implement.
How is a challenge assessed?
With rubrics on competencies and evidence of the process: the quality of the research, the decisions made, collaboration, reflection and the impact of the solution, in addition to the final product.
How long does a challenge last?
It depends on the design: from intensive two- or three-week challenges to full-semester challenges with an external partner.
What is the BeChallenge Method?
An experiential learning architecture based on Kolb's cycle, with four pillars (investigate, connect, co-create and evaluate) and seven reference phases — discover, team, ideate, feedback, prototype, voting and evaluate — that can be condensed into 5 or 3 phases. It starts with individual discovery before teams form and closes every phase with metacognition and 360° assessment.
Want to design real challenges at your institution?
Xavi Pascual helps universities and schools take challenge-based learning from pilot to institutional model. Message him on WhatsApp.
Personal reply from Xavi Pascual, usually within one business day.