Anna Margolis, Lena Christiaans, and Joanna Stanberry
In this interactive session, we introduce a method to evaluate challenge-based learning courses that increase self-efficacy (Selbstwirksamkeit) by solving societal challenges. This session covers challenge-based learning and action learning for lecturers, facilitators, trainers, and coaches and reflection on individual self-efficacy in the framework of the Inner Development Goals.
Action learning and challenge-based learning are gaining increasing popularity as teaching methods that enable skill development, support social learning, and increase self-efficacy (Selbstwirksamkeit). Certain disciplines, such as design thinking, systems design, social entrepreneurship, and dramaturgy and performance, lend themselves to challenge-based learning. However, it can be difficult to evaluate if challenge-based learning actually reaches the objectives of skill development, social learning, and self-efficacy, as these concepts are subjective and difficult to quantify. In this session, we invite participants to join us in developing such an evaluation approach.
We apply Q-Methodology, a research design that allows identifying subjective constructs on a topic via a card-sorting exercise and interviews. The focus topic of our evaluation is self-efficacy; we look into how students define self-efficacy and relate it to themselves. In the card-sorting exercise, participants put subjective perceptions of 40 statements into a pattern on a scale from “strongly agree” to “completely disagree.” These statements define constructs around self-efficacy and are based on the Inner Development Goals, a framework that describes individual skills necessary to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals along five dimensions: being, thinking, relating, collaborating, and acting. In a follow-up interview, we ask for qualitative feedback on the course and on the statements.
We invite workshop participants to join an online card-sorting session and construct their own relation to self-efficacy. This offers two benefits to the participants. First, they can reflect individually on how their skills relate to the Inner Development Goals. Second, they can consider if and how they would like to integrate evaluation into their own challenge-based learning courses. Our objective for the workshop is to receive feedback on the method and potential improvements. This feedback will be integrated into the evaluation of the course and future publications.
KEYWORDS: challenge-based learning, action learning, evaluating impact, Q-methodology, Inner Development Goals, design thinking, systems design, self-efficacy, Selbstwirksamkeit
