Module overview
This is an interactive and practical module aiming to inspire students to social enterprise and entrepreneurship by giving them an experiential introduction to human centred design processes.
The emphasis in this module is on the translation of knowledge into action and the development of enterprising skills such as identifying user needs and addressing these needs through collaborative co-design and action, being resourceful and leadership. A secondary aim is to develop students’ confidence in developing a personal brand using blogging and social media. A third aim is to raise an awareness of the support available to students for social enterprise activities at the university (both financial and non-financial).
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- To become self-aware of your skills development
- Conduct qualitative problem-solving research
- Brainstorm effectively
- Work in teams and develop leadership skills to design a solution to a social challenge
- Pitch ideas persuasively
- Use systems thinking to understand social problems
- Communicate effectively, in both oral and written form, using and justifying argument within presentations and short reports
- Prototype and iterate solutions to social challenges
- Use design thinking to create solutions to social problems
Syllabus
This module is an experiential introduction to social enterprise and entrepreneurship through a human-centred design process. It takes students, stage-by-stage, through a process of conception, design and delivery of a idea for social change. Each stage is broken down into individual tasks which propels each team further towards the execution of a prototype social venture.
The module is intended as a launchpad for further explorations of student enterprise activity, whether as an independent entrepreneur or as a contributor to on-going social ventures.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Workshops: Students will participate in a series of workshops which will help them to understand their skillsets (creating benchmarks and monitoring progress) and their own leadership styles. These workshops will take place in class.
Writing individual reports: Students, as part of summative assessment, will submit individual reports where they will present problem landscape, solutions landscape and opportunities for intervention
Reflective log: students will complete weekly blogs on the learning process to reflect on the skills and knowledge acquired during the course, and their understanding of themselves as social impact leaders. These blogposts will be thematised using specific skills and leadership concepts.
Presentations: students will deliver presentations to a panel of external stakeholders, outlining their understanding of given social challenges, current solutions, and the scope for effective new interventions.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Independent Study | 124 |
| Teaching | 26 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Internet Resources
Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Next Billion: Development Through Enterprise.
Guardian Social Enterprise Network.
Textbooks
Stokes, D. ,Wilson, N. and Mador, M. (2010). Entrepreneurship, CENGAGE Learning. London.
Osterwalder, Alexander. Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers.
Polak, Paul (2008). Out of poverty: what works when traditional approaches fail.
Bornstein, David & Davis, Susan (2010). Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.
Novogratz, Jacqueline (2009). The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.
Elkington, John & Hartigan Pamela (2008). The power of unreasonable people : how social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world.
Nicholls, Alex (2007). Social entrepreneurship: new models of sustainable social change.
Prahalad, C. K (2010). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid : eradicating poverty through profits.
Yunus, Muhammad (2010). Building social business the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs.
Sommerrock, Katharina (2011). Social entrepreneurship business models.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Individual report | 60% |
| Blog | 10% |
| Group presentation | 30% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Individual report | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External