Social innovation, design and evaluation are best taught in practice. This course uses live workshops and some online and out-of-class components to enable students to hone and practise key skills associated with social innovation, design and evaluation.
All of the lecturing and interaction for the course can be done live online, so students from across the motu or with travel limitations can participate. In addition, simultaneous in-person workshops are also provided for students who prefer or must learn on campus (e.g., international students).
The course takes students through the design of an actual social innovation, including generating the information needed to understand the issue, developing ideas, prototyping solutions, and developing frameworks for evaluation (theories of change). This hands-on course requires online or in-person attendance at the workshops (delivered across 8 Fridays in Semester One) and an ability to work with others in teams (social innovation requires a range of mindsets and needs a team of people with different strengths; creativity builds off diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches).
Students from across the University, including Social Work, Education, Engineering, Law, Arts, and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, have participated to date. By the end of the course, you will have a working knowledge of the critical approaches and debates associated with social innovation, design, and evaluation and will be well-placed to take these learnings forward to help produce social and community change in your own spheres of influence.