The mCBL (multi-Challenge-Based Learning) framework, a collaborative effort, was presented at EDUCON 2024. The fruitful discussion led to refining the framework's objectives and tools. The mCBL is strategically designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and practical application by involving multiple actors, such as training partners, mentors, experts, and students. This report presents an analysis of applying a new phase of the mCBL where specific methodological improvements were incorporated. First, real problems relevant to the industry were identified, defined, and addressed within the framework of the mCBL course. These challenges are aligned with current industry trends, needs, and future directions, ensuring their relevance and benefit, as well as the development of graduate competencies. Research agreements that clearly defined roles, responsibilities, timelines, and expected results were also formalized. The contributions of all parties were specified, detailing the resources, expertise, and support provided by the training partners, the university's infrastructure and academic guidance, and the students' participation, effort, and expected outcomes. We concluded that the training partner should participate in the initial challenge kick-off events by presenting the context to the students, explaining its importance and potential impact on the industry, and sharing inspiring success stories, case studies, and real-world applications. Additionally, the results of the final survey conducted on the model by students and the conclusions for the enrichment of the fundamental bases of the model are presented, such as the development of assessment rubrics as instruments to measure the impact of the development of the different challenges. The findings presented allow us to understand how the challenges within the mCBL framework influence student engagement and learning and identify best practices for integrating mCBL in various educational environments to maximize learning outcomes and student preparation for professional careers.

Understanding the gut microbiota is crucial due to its profound impact on human health, influencing digestion, immune regulation, and disease prevention. Its interdisciplinary nature makes it a critical area of study in various fields, including biotechnology engineering, where teaching students about its complexity and real-world applications is essential. Despite its importance, gut microbiota remains underrepresented in educational curricula, limiting students' ability to grasp its complexity and practical implications. To address this gap, an interactive virtual reality tool called the Gut Microbiota Simulator (GMS) was developed, allowing students to explore the effects of lifestyle factors, such as diet, sleep, and stress, on gut health by simulating dynamic changes and providing an engaging, interactive learning environment. The simulator was evaluated in an undergraduate course through pre-tests, post-tests, and a perception survey to assess its effectiveness. Results showed a significant improvement in students' understanding of microbiota-related concepts, with post-test scores significantly higher than pre-test scores (p < 0.001). The perception survey revealed high satisfaction levels, with average ratings exceeding nine on a 10-point scale for dimensions such as usefulness, engagement, and learning relevance. In addition, an AI-based microbiota simulator powered by a custom GPT model was developed as a complementary resource to provide personalized feedback and flexible interaction scenarios. These tools demonstrate the potential of integrating virtual reality and artificial intelligence to address complex educational challenges, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students. This study highlights the importance of using innovative technologies to improve the teaching of interdisciplinary topics. Future work will explore adapting these tools to other disciplines and educational contexts, promoting accessible and impactful learning experiences.

In an era where education is increasingly focused on developing disciplinary knowledge and transversal skills, challenge-based learning (CBL) has emerged as a practical pedagogical approach. CBL immerses students in real-world problems that demand critical, collaborative thinking and creative solutions. This method is even more compelling when applied to space-related challenges, which captivate students' interest and foster diverse skills applicable across disciplines. Here, we report on the experience of higher education students solving spacerelated challenges using CBL. We demonstrate that using spacerelated challenges can improve students' educational outcomes. Space exploration is an attractive context for challenge-based learning because of its inherent complexity and relevance to contemporary scientific and technological issues. When students are presented with space-related challenges, such as designing sustainable habitats for the Moon or Mars, developing technologies for space travel, or addressing environmental concerns related to living conditions on space stations (basic needs of space exploration), they are more likely to become engaged and motivated. This engagement fosters a deeper understanding of scientific principles, from physics and engineering to biology and environmental science. Space-focused CBL encourages the development of essential transversal skills, including critical thinking, which students use to analyze problems and evaluate potential solutions and feasibility, honing their ability to think critically about complex issues. Collaboration through teamwork fosters communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills as students share diverse perspectives and work toward common goals; Creativity, because the open-ended nature of space challenges promotes innovative thinking, encouraging students to propose novel solutions and explore unconventional ideas; Adaptability, as space-related challenges often present unforeseen obstacles, requiring students to adapt their strategies and approaches, thereby fostering resilience and flexibility. Students develop global awareness and social responsibility, understanding that their work can have far-reaching consequences beyond their immediate environment. By participating in CBL, students build a portfolio of skills and experiences that make them more competitive in the workforce. Integrating CBL through spacerelated experiences offers a unique and practical educational approach.

With Challenge-Based Learning (CBL), universities aim to explicitly contribute to societal challenges, mostly involving moral dilemmas. As such, students, teachers, university management, and external stakeholders get morally involved in societal innovations. We analyze the existing CBL literature on this involvement in three dimensions, e.g., personal, interpersonal, and collective. We find that all three levels are present but that the criticality needed for societal challenges is discussed less explicitly in the CBL ethics literature. As a first step to answer this gap, we explore instances of how CBL programs of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda), Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), and Tecnóloglco de Monterrey (Mexico) are confronted and deal with this criticality. We conclude that it is fruitful for further research to look into the strengths of CBL to engage students in real-life moral experiences continuously and that more research on critical morality at the personal, interpersonal, and collective dimensions is necessary for CBL as a pedagogical method for universities to contribute to societal challenges.

Experiential Education requires that students be exposed to real and multidisciplinary problem situations, where students, by solving the challenge, develop both disciplinary and transversal competencies. The benefits and advantages of using Challenge Based Learning (CBL) in higher education, as well as the obstacles that still arise in the adoption of a new model, have already been reported in several previous manuscripts. In this report we analyze an experience where different training partners were used for the course and several challenges were proposed. Here we demonstrate that competencies can be developed in different challenges, at the same time, in the same group, and with several training partners. Attention was paid to the course competencies to be developed, and to the knowledge to be disseminated, and., on the other hand, the experimental planning was carried out by mentors and expert staff from the training partners. In the end, the evaluation was carried out with a strict competency development rubric. Thus, here we report a scheme that establishes a new model in CBL, where a course is not only governed by a particular challenge but through the resolution of more than one challenge within the group, the discussion was enriched, and all the issues were strengthened and the designated competencies, developed.

Competency-based education has had very active development in recent years. Different educational models, based on projects, problems, and practices, have been used in Engineering faculties to develop the graduate competencies of new engineers. However, the didactic technique of Challenge Based Learning (CBL) has been the one that has recently had not only the greatest acceptance but also the greatest success in the labor market. For this model, the design of the challenges is fundamental, and the role of training partners, especially external ones, companies, non-governmental organizations, or government institutions that provide, together with teachers. These challenges have the purpose of developing different types of skills. In this report, we analyze the role of these training partners in developing, evaluating, and applying both, technical and soft skills in real environments of the current labor market. Students who participate in this CBL fully developed competencies. CBL is very demanding for universities, professors and students.

Ingenuity and curiosity are characteristics that define engineers. The need to understand the world and how things work is vital to be motivated to innovate, create, and transform the world that surrounds us. Universities have the responsibility and commitment to prepare engineering professionals to be able to face the challenges of our rapidly changing world by preparing them with a set of competencies (knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and values). These competencies include both disciplinary and transversal competencies, such as critical thinking, the ability to solve complex problems, communication, the ability to learn by themselves, and creating innovative solutions with consideration of global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. This study presents the engagement of undergraduate engineering students in research work through active learning during their capstone project at their last semester of their undergraduate program. Students from Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, and Sustainable Development Engineering programs worked on research projects linked with external partners. The study presents how these projects were generated and planned, the projects characteristics, the projects results, and the impact this research experience had on the students. The research projects delivered the desired outcomes and provided students with a valuable learning experience, showing them their potential, and motivating them to pursue postgraduate studies and innovation and development professional roles.

Challenge-based learning (CBL) is a teaching technique that has recently been used for the development of disciplinary and transversal skills. It has the advantage of being a realistic experience that can be socially relevant and develops in students competencies currently required by employers. Searching in the SCOPUS database on the CBL experiences reported, at least until October 2023, 22% are in Engineering Education, especially in the last 4 years. In this communication, 112 CBL experiences in the School of Engineering and Sciences at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, in Mexico, were examined with reference to the design of challenges. Regardless of the origin of the challenge (university professors, training partner, mix of external experts with professors), or of the applicators, (teachers or experts of the training partner), the challenges pedagogically met the objectives of developing competencies, but none passed an evaluation on ethical, legal or certifying feasibility that the process or results could generate some social or academic inconvenience. Here we propose a reflection on the central structure of the CBL, the challenge, the relevance of its application, and the design of the challenge itself. CBL is a powerful pedagogical approach for the development of skills for the future, but care must be taken in planning so as not to commit ethical or legal infringements that compromise the development of the educational experience.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) connects students and professors from different countries, universities, cultures, and educational models to engage in projects and coursework, working together for a common goal. By implementing this collaboration in courses that are part of the engineering program study plan, both students and faculty develop different disciplinary and transversal competencies while learning the knowledge and skills required for their specific engineering programs. In the context of engineering education, program accreditations are quite relevant to ensure the standards and quality to develop graduates that are well prepared to enter the global workforce and contribute to build a better world. This study analyzes the student outcomes of different engineering accreditation organizations to identify common student outcomes and explore the impact of COIL experiences to contribute to the development of these student outcomes. Some COIL experiences in literature report that students build communication skills, work in multicultural environments creating consciousness about different social, economic and political contexts, develop critical thinking and problem-solving competencies while proposing solutions to complex problems, among others. This study aims to investigate how COIL courses align to the development of engineering student outcomes and document COIL as a tool for this purpose, emphasizing best practices and recommendations for universities that intend to engage in this pedagogical approach.

Reducing the gender gap in universities has been an undertaken task for several years, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of gender equity. Within the culture that can favor and facilitate this change, is to have spaces where leadership in equity is present, which allows the growth of more women in positions of authority in our institutions. The case study shares the strategies of a program to create this culture in a private university in Mexico, starting with one area as a pilot program. The research methodology is qualitative in nature with three phases: design of the instrument related to elements to generate a space for leadership in equity, implementation of the design to the members of the area, analysis and conclusions with the principal strategies. The results allow the directive team to define short and long-term action plans to achieve a culture of leadership in equity, and therefore, the increase of women in leadership positions with the opportunities that arise.

The new reality demands that engineering graduates develop digital skills. Furthermore, globalization requires university students to develop global perspectives and cultural awareness to become responsible and sustainable global citizens. One of the most popular strategies in recent years, mainly due to the confinement by COVID-19, was the strategy of Collaborative Online International Learning (Collaborative Online International Learning, COIL). COIL is a voluntary association between teachers from different countries collaborating in co-constructed learning experiences to enhance international and intercultural understanding. The analysis of 10 COIL experiences between Tecnologico de Monterrey and other universities worldwide was conducted based on evaluating and developing student competencies. The students' satisfaction level has been high. Results suggest that COIL helps them to develop skills to navigate the challenges of the 21stcentury, giving them new perspectives and ways of thinking about how they relate to the world. Detected opportunity areas were specific preparation of teachers, evaluation systems, instructional design, and the assignment of digital badges to participating teachers. COIL is a powerful tool for developing the engineering skills that employers demand.

Here we report the development of a reference framework focused on design for inclusion to achieve an inclusive and equitable society. Our model seeks to show a framework to expose the experiences of minority groups within a social system that requires the design or redesign of a solution defined as a product, process, system, or service to solve a specific problem. The research incorporates a case study developed in a higher education engineering course, whose objective is to apply the reference framework to redesign processes and services for vulnerable populations. Qualitative observations and data collection are carried out through the proposed methodology as a conceptual model focused on the design for inclusion, based on the opinions of different actors. Our findings allow progress towards future studies and its validation in other cases of an inclusive design approach to develop citizenship competencies - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) - among stakeholders. We believe that our results can be part of the current basis necessary to solve the new challenges that our society faces, generating an impact for academics, government, companies, and NGOs, specifically in services related to sustainability, and solving problems of diversity, inclusion, equity, equity, and legitimacy of minorities.

This Research to Practice Work in Progress Paper focuses on the Education 4.0 Framework, based on built-in skill development mechanisms and innovative learning pedagogies related to Active Learning approaches. Practicing engineers are increasingly expected to act as boundary spanners who manage and participate in diverse interdisciplinary global teams, leverage cultural differences, and draw on expert knowledge from multiple fields and specialities to translate competing stakeholders' needs into practical design solutions. This demand for a holistic type of engineer stems from the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: engineers who assume the role of leaders can integrate knowledge and work seamlessly across intellectual, social, and cultural challenges. Our exploratory study aims to identify the implications for practice, challenges, and opportunities in Higher Education. More specifically, we look at two engineering programs of two universities, one located in Mexico and the other in the United States of America. Both universities have implemented massive Experiential and Challenge-Based Learning efforts with industry and external organizations as educational partners to immerse students in real-life contexts. The methodology used was qualitative-experimental, involved more than 120 students, and included a post-test for skills assessment with different instruments such as rubrics, questionnaires, interviews, and surveys. The preliminary findings of this work-in-progress study reveal that the role of Higher Education professors in the training of future engineering professionals within the Education 4.0 Framework has different degrees of complexity related to the cross-border nature of educational innovation, that requires the commitment and alignment of multiple actors: students, professors, organizations, and industry.

The purpose of this study is to explore how a high-impact outreach project with renowned international organizations contributes to the development of students' self-confidence and leadership in STEM areas. The conclusion of this research, using quantitative measures, yielded outstanding results in two skills expected to develop working on projects related to STEM. In addition, other solid results showed that students who develop this type of projects increase the perspective of their professional approach and they inspire students to continue participating in projects that challenge them both personally and professionally.

In August 2019, the national initiative Women in Engineering and Sciences (MIC) was launched with the objective of raising awareness and monitoring gender equity, equal opportunities and women empowerment. This project, led by a group of professors, hopes to accompany, support and join efforts, for a stronger impact within our academic community. This study presents the work of the linking committee towards the empowerment of women engineers through linked experiences. The methodology of this work includes: 1) integrating a multi-campus team to work in the engagement and linking committee, 2) identifying internal efforts towards the empowerment of women, as well as external efforts in companies, organizations and other universities through research and interviews, and mapping the networking ecosystem 3) analyze the information to identify key partners for collaborative projects, and 4) create a community by implementing Lean In circles (leanin.org) and replicate the project at other campuses. The work done and the reflections hope to be a roadmap and source of inspiration to other engineering institutions working towards a culture of gender equality and women empowerment.

The world is witnessing a radical technological change at a rate never seen before. Terms such as internet of things, big data, cloud computing, 3D printing, pillars of the fourth industrial revolution, have had great impact on education. Not only the roll of universities and their educational models is changing, but also the way we learn. In Mexico, Tecnologico de Monterrey is responding to such demands by the introduction of its new educational Tec 21 model. It is characterized by promoting the creation of new approaches and tools to create innovative learning experiences. In this context, here we report on the results obtained from an experience implementing the creative tool of writing Sci-Fi stories as a gamification strategy. By re-discovering the genre of Science Fiction and introducing some elements of storytelling, students can build abstract concepts and comprehend mathematical models within a playful environment based on actual engineering facts. During the period between August 2018 and May 2019, a ludic activity was developed for sophomore students reading for chemical and biotechnology engineering degrees to facilitate the comprehension of physicochemical phenomena of phase equilibrium and thermodynamics.

In this rapidly changing world, universities must innovate in the way they teach and prepare students to face life's challenges. To be successful, people must be agile learners with high resilience and frustration tolerance to recover quickly from adversity. With this in mind, a new educational model based on the development of skills through active and collaborative learning was defined at Tecnologico de Monterrey. This study shows the results of a Rube Goldberg Machine Massive Challenge for first-year engineering students of different programs. The students worked in teams to design a Rube Goldberg machine that could be installed and run in a limited time, meeting specific requirements. Several teams competed simultaneously to achieve the goal while the audience watched and encouraged them. The results suggest that this challenge was an innovative event that helped students improve their tolerance for frustration and resilience. Students enjoyed the challenge and recommended it for future freshmen as a fun learning experience.

The Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM) has implemented the Tec21 Educational Model, based on four fundamental pillars: challenge-based learning (CBL), flexibility, inspiring trained teachers and a comprehensive educational experience that makes it memorable. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of the exercises on the implementation of CBL experiences in three engineering areas within the campus: mechatronics, mechanical and biotechnology. First, the transformation of teachers to adopt CBL as a didactic technique is described, and secondly, the implementation of CBL experiences with external training partners. Results here presented indicate that students gain more knowledge using CBL, however, teachers require an appropriate training program and a prior design of proficiency assessment instruments. When testing different evaluation instruments, the most objective and clear for CBL according to the surveys between teachers and students were the checklists and the evaluation rubrics. This study indicates that through experience we approach to create an increasingly adequate, transparent and fair evaluation system to evaluate CBL experiences.

Currently, there is great concern about the increasing percentage of school dropouts at all school levels, therefore student engagement has been at the center of the discussion of the use, design and implementation of innovative teaching techniques that promote student interest, awaken passion for the discipline of each program and through educational activities decrease the percentage of desertion in undergraduate studies. The Tec21 model, implemented at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, aims to reduce school dropout through the acquisition of new knowledge through the resolution of real-life challenges. Here we report on a learning experience based on the Tec21 model for students of the Biotechnology Engineering program who were taken out of the school to the Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference Institute and exposed to solve challenges related to the analysis of nucleotide sequences of genomes of current infectious germs. Study modules to support the solution of the challenges were designed to boost transversal competences such ethics, collaborative work, resilience and critical thinking. Analyses of achievement indicators, such as learning gain, and a student engagement survey showed that this active learning experience was 20 to 40% more efficient than that of students who remained in traditional classroom education. Interestingly, the academic challenge, the active learning, the staff-student interaction, the enriching educational experience, the supportive learning environment and work interacting learning, were also considerably higher. Our results support the idea that student achievement is directly linked to engagement and demonstrated that having a Challenge Based Learning experience helps to increase student's commitment.