Social Innovation Course

Lesson 1 • Defining Social Innovation

Clarifies the boundaries of social innovation versus charity, CSR, and social entrepreneurship. Establishes shared vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Types and Typologies of Social Innovation

Introduces classification frameworks for social innovations by scale, sector, and mechanism. Helps students categorise real-world examples analytically.

Lesson 3 • The Social Innovation Ecosystem

Maps the actors, institutions, and enabling conditions that support social innovation. Connects individual initiatives to broader systemic contexts.

Lesson 1 • Introduction to Systems Thinking

Introduces feedback loops, emergence, and interdependence as core systems concepts. Reframes social problems as properties of systems, not isolated events.

Lesson 2 • Collective Impact and Field Building

Examines how coordinated multi-actor efforts produce systemic change beyond single organisations. Builds skills for designing and participating in collective impact initiatives.

Lesson 3 • Leverage Points for Systems Change

Applies Meadows' leverage point framework to identify high-impact intervention sites. Prioritises interventions that shift rules, goals, and paradigms over surface fixes.

Lesson 4 • Mapping Complex Social Systems

Applies causal loop diagrams and system maps to visualise problem structures. Reveals leverage points hidden in complex interdependencies.

Lesson 1 • Stakeholder and Context Mapping

Identifies who is affected by a problem and how context shapes its expression. Ensures solutions are designed with full awareness of the human landscape.

Lesson 2 • Reframing Problems for Innovation

Teaches reframing as a creative and strategic act that opens new solution spaces. Connects problem framing directly to the quality of ideas generated later.

Lesson 3 • Problem Discovery and Sensing

Introduces tools for detecting unmet social needs through observation, data, and community signals. Grounds problem identification in evidence rather than assumption.

Lesson 4 • Prioritising Problems Worth Solving

Provides criteria for selecting which problems to pursue given limited resources. Builds judgement for strategic focus in innovation work.

Lesson 1 • Qualitative Research Methods

Covers interviews, observation, and focus groups as primary tools for understanding user experience. Builds practical skills for data collection in community settings.

Lesson 2 • Building User Personas and Journey Maps

Creates representative profiles and experience maps to keep design grounded in real user needs. Serves as a reference tool throughout the innovation process.

Lesson 3 • Principles of Human-Centered Design

Establishes empathy, co-creation, and iteration as core design values. Frames research as a relational, not extractive, practice.

Lesson 4 • Synthesising Research into Insights

Transforms raw qualitative data into patterns, themes, and actionable insights. Bridges the gap between research and ideation.

Lesson 1 • Creative Thinking Foundations

Introduces divergent and convergent thinking modes and the conditions that enable creative output. Establishes psychological safety as a prerequisite for ideation.

Lesson 2 • Designing for Equity and Inclusion

Embeds equity principles into solution design to avoid reinforcing existing disparities. Ensures innovations serve the most marginalised populations effectively.

Lesson 3 • Designing Solution Concepts

Develops selected ideas into structured solution concepts with defined components and logic. Prepares concepts for prototyping and stakeholder communication.

Lesson 4 • Ideation Techniques and Methods

Provides a toolkit of structured ideation methods suited to social innovation contexts. Enables teams to generate large volumes of diverse ideas efficiently.

Lesson 1 • Designing Prototype Tests

Structures testing plans with clear hypotheses, metrics, and participant criteria. Ensures tests generate actionable learning rather than confirmation bias.

Lesson 2 • Types of Social Innovation Prototypes

Surveys physical, service, digital, and role-play prototypes suited to social contexts. Matches prototype type to the assumptions being tested.

Lesson 3 • Analysing Test Results and Iterating

Converts test observations into decisions about what to keep, change, or discard. Closes the feedback loop between testing and redesign.

Lesson 4 • Prototyping Principles and Mindset

Establishes prototyping as a learning tool, not a production step. Shifts teams from perfectionism to experimentation.

Lesson 1 • Data Collection and Monitoring Systems

Designs practical monitoring systems that generate timely data for decision-making. Balances rigour with the resource constraints of social innovation organisations.

Lesson 2 • Developing a Theory of Change

Guides students through building a complete, evidence-informed theory of change for their innovation. Connects problem framing and solution design to expected impact.

Lesson 3 • Evaluating and Communicating Impact

Applies evaluation methods to assess whether change occurred and why. Translates findings into compelling narratives for diverse audiences.

Lesson 4 • Selecting Impact Metrics

Teaches criteria for choosing meaningful, measurable indicators aligned with theory of change. Avoids metric selection driven by data availability rather than relevance.

Lesson 1 • Business Models for Social Innovation

Introduces revenue models that balance financial sustainability with social mission. Prevents mission drift by embedding values into business model design.

Lesson 2 • Partnerships for Scale

Examines how strategic partnerships accelerate scaling while managing risk and mission alignment. Builds skills for negotiating and structuring cross-sector alliances.

Lesson 3 • Organisational Resilience and Sustainability

Addresses governance, talent, and culture as foundations of long-term organisational health. Prepares innovators to build institutions that outlast founding teams.

Lesson 4 • Scaling Pathways and Strategies

Surveys replication, franchising, open-source, and policy influence as distinct scaling routes. Matches strategy to innovation type and organisational capacity.