Future change agents: Emotional interactions in the challenge-based classroom

● This chapter analyses the emotional experience of students on Students as Change Agents – a challenge-based, interdisciplinary undergraduate course with Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh.
● A mixed method approach is used to categorise emotions and map these against group interactions throughout the course.
● A detailed picture emerges of an emotionally charged environment, which places specific demands on students as they encounter unfamiliar contexts and navigate unpredictable processes.
● The chapter argues that with careful, responsive planning and delivery, challenge-based education has the potential to prepare students for futures that, while challenging and complex, can also be rewarding and fulfilling.
● It concludes with a series of recommendations, which are offered to interdisciplinary educators to consider when designing and delivering challenge-based learning programmes.
● The chapter argues that emotional interactions and group dynamics should be recognised as integral to the experience of interdisciplinary, challenge-based learning.