Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) is an already common practice in higher education institutions. It is an active learning methodology which has been proved to contribute to competence development in different areas and has been claimed as an integrative methodology. CBL usually implies a progressive development and the establishment of milestones, deadlines and deliverables, an approach which can help students acquire time development and self-regulation strategies.

The objective of the present research was to evaluate the contribution of CBL to the acquisition of time management and self-regulation strategies, according to the experiences developed in different bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in the School of Agricultural Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain).

During the CBL, students worked on a project about providing solutions to contemporary problems related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The projects took a semester and had to be presented to a panel of academics or industry experts, as a final deliverable or challenge. At the beginning of the semester, students were provided a schedule including deliverable deadlines and other instructions. The research conducted tried to evaluate to which extent the CBL approach succeeded in contributing to time management and self-regulation, as well as to evaluate the appropriateness of on-site and out of the classroom hours needed to complete each task. To this aim, short questionnaires were prepared, launched and answered by students along the activity, in different onsite sessions. Students were asked about the onsite and at home hours needed to complete the task being delivered each day, and their opinion on the need for shortening or lengthening the session duration or deadline extension.

This study suggests that the CBL approach contributes to time development and self-regulation strategies, and it also may help teachers to plan the learning experience according to deadlines and duration of CBL discussion sessions.

Keywords: Challenge Based Learning, time management, self-regulation, planning.