Introducing Pathways for Challenge-based Learning in Academia
The Learn.Inc project, dedicated to the creation of challenge-based university curricula and implemented by Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu in Romania, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in Bulgaria, the Hellenic Open University in Greece, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in Türkiye and RTP Foundation (Bulgaria) comes to completion at the end of February 2025. For the past three years, the Learn.Inc partnership has successfully experimented with and delivered outstanding results, engaging dozens of graduate students and faculty in research, course development and collaboration with local stakeholders from academia and beyond. Learn.Inc aimed to support:
- The strategic and integrated use of digital technologies and open educational resources in the partner universities
- The creation of innovative learning pathways for students
- The capacity of higher education institutions to advance to immersive digital education
- The active involvement of students in co-creation of digital education content.
As we wrap up our work, we are happy to share with you some of what we have achieved:
- The Learn.Inc Platform: The project website provides a unique platform for understanding the challenge-based approach and its potential to redesign university curricula with a strengthened focus on student-led, experimental teaching.
- A comprehensive repository of video lectures (OPENARC): Fifteen SPOCs and MOOCs, developed by faculty together with post-graduate students from the four partner universities through the Learn.Inc project-based teaching incubator, are available to view and download from the project website here.
- A toolkit to provide aid, guidelines and common standards to prepare video lecture courses as free and useful tool in the field of open and digital learning.
- Resources on the implementation of challenge-based teaching and learning in academia, combined with proceedings from the Learn.Inc Final Conference held in September, 2024 in Sofia (Bulgaria). Read the conference proceedings here.
The outputs developed by Learn.Inc address pressing needs for adopting wholesome, transformative teaching methods and curricula which give students the skills essential for academic success but also for being active citizens. The project fostered meaningful community engagement and inspired innovation and collaboration among partner universities’ faculty, students, and staff. Local stakeholders helped identify key challenges, mentor students, and co-develop curricula, bridging academia with professional practice. This collaboration fostered a lasting platform for innovation, dialogue, and knowledge exchange, strengthening the impact of higher education. More than 10 universities, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations have expressed their interest in collaborating with Learn.Inc’s local partners and using the resources produced.
| Learn.Inc in Numbers 86 Student proposals for challenge-based projects submitted in the inter-university virtual Sandbox More than 55 proposals selected for support, including financialFifteen graduate-level MOOCs and SPOCs developed and proposed for inclusion in the universities’ programsLearn.Inc collaborated with over 130 external organizations, including industry partners, policy makers, research institutes, and NGOs, to ensure real-world relevance in challenge-based learning. More than 6000 external users reached through the Learn.Inc website and online resources. |
The legacy of Learn.Inc is a community of like-minded faculty and students which will continue to collaborate for building a sustainable higher education ecosystem and offering learning content that follows the beat of society and responds to local challenges with a global impact in mind.
For more details, visit: Learn.Inc Website.
