Teaching by subjects and contents where students passively receive knowledge is increasingly obsolete. Universities are opting for teaching strategies supporting skills development to face the labor, social, environmental, and economic conditions afflicting us. Employers demand increasingly complex skills; universities have identified experiential learning as giving access to real situations and learning by doing. One of the most advanced strategies is Challenge-Based Learning (CBL). Through real problem situations, faculty and students collaborate to solve an established challenge, with or without external stakeholders. This educational advancement has been global and is developing graduates with international skills, which ensures a world-class standard. Here we report a global study carried out in universities from three different continents, and we analyze the implementations of CBL in educational programs through cases in Mexico, The Netherlands, Ireland, and China. Developing skills and competencies is evident, and CBL is a viable way to ensure the success of Higher Education graduates. Obstacles in the transformation of faculty towards CBL are a similar fence in all cases. For CBL, the path needs to be explored, as it is on the frontline of educational developments that can be most helpful for developing a new paradigm in education.

ABC Learning Design (ABC LD) was devised to offer educators an accessible and re-usable mechanism to plan blended and online learning experiences. ABC LD is fundamentally a framework and a curriculum development workshop to enable collaborative learning design. In approximately 90 minutes teaching teams work together to create a visual ‘storyboard’ of the various learning activities and assessments required to meet module or programme learning outcomes. This chapter was co-authored by teaching support professional staff who are deeply involved with the use, promotion, and adaptation of the ABC LD framework at Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. They first share their individual reflections on how their philosophy of learning has evolved. The three authors will then describe how that thinking has influenced their institution’s adaptations of ABC LD by: harmonising Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and ABC, enabling meaningful student partnership in the design process, and empowering sometimes marginalised or isolated academics in course design decisions. Finally, the chapter collates local and international ABC resources that can be used – and indeed further adapted – by those who may think along similar lines.

The influence of non-formal professional learning in higher education remains a relatively under-researched area. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by exploring the impact of an implementation of non-formal professional learning operating at an Irish university since April 2017. The initiative – called The Sipping Point – aims to promote and facilitate conversations about teaching among staff through a consistent format of monthly gatherings, short talks, and open discussion. This paper reports findings from an open-ended survey exploring the impact on participants’ practice and views about education. Following a process of thematic analysis, key themes included the value of connecting with peers, the perception of the space as a source of new ideas, and a sense of encouragement to try new things in teaching practice. The study includes analysis from a lead facilitator who reports strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats potentially of interest to those considering similar activities.

This chapter describes the use of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) to promote the adoption of active learning in a sustainable and inclusive way. Through the CBL format of a hackathon – an intense, time-bound event where people collaborate in teams to solve challenges – approximately 40 participants worked in small groups to investigate and co-develop potential solutions to issues of passive, predictable teaching. Throughout this almost day-long activity, staff, students, and mentors came together to tackle the challenge of ‘Activating Active Learning’ within an Irish university. All participants were invited to share their feedback through a post-event survey. Staff described how they were introduced to or were reminded of the value of a range of active approaches, including CBL, through the hackathon approach. Mentors described group dynamics, the importance of clearly defining the mentoring role, and the potential value of further time for reflection and action. The student perspective indicated that staff attending seemed to be receptive to student suggestions about making their courses more inspiring. In at least one case, the hackathon opened discussions about the usefulness of GenAI tools for students, countering impressions of such tools as ‘academic demons’. This chapter describes the perceptions of participants based on their experiences at this relatively unusual higher education event. It also outlines the solutions that were generated, further highlighting sustainability and transferability potential. Finally, the chapter concludes with recommendations and resources from the hackathon organisers that may be of practical use for those considering and/or planning similar events within their own institutional context.