Often abbreviated PBL — same abbreviation as problem-based learning. The two are related but distinct; project-based learning leads to a deliverable, problem-based learning leads to a defensible reasoning trail.
Project-based learning is a pedagogical approach where students learn by completing extended projects with public deliverables. The pedagogy has been studied substantively for decades; gold-standard project-based learning shares features across implementations — driving question, sustained inquiry, authentic context, voice and choice, public product.
The practical strength of project-based learning is the deliverable: students walk away with an artefact, not just a grade. The practical limit is institutional: project-based learning at scale requires faculty time, sponsor relationships, and assessment infrastructure that many programmes do not have.
Ewance is project-based learning, infrastructure-as-a-service. Each challenge has a driving question, a sustained inquiry phase, an authentic brief, student-chosen scope within the brief, and a public deliverable assessed by rubric. Programmes that struggle to run project-based learning at scale internally can route students through Ewance challenges to fill the gap.
The fastest way to know whether challenge-based learning fits you is to ship one.
