DBE project work involves eight different phases, which can vary in terms of time. Sometimes some steps may be repeated several times and sometimes they may overlap.
A genuine work-life challenge is an important driver of the DBE process, motivating students to move forward.
The DBE project work starts with team building and continues with data collection, seeking information on phenomena and people related to the real-life challenge. The processing of data guides students towards brainstorming, resulting in a bundle of ideas for solutions. The most feasible solution ideas are selected and a prototype, a visualised draft version, is produced to test the solution with the people for whom it is being produced and to finetune it according to their feedback. The final solution will be presented to the teacher, the other students and the client of the challenge. At the end of the DBE project, it is important that students reflect on their own knowledge in relation to the module content and the skills and knowledge generated in the DBE project.
The diagram below summarises the steps in the DBE process.