INTR3091: Global Social Innovation: Think Globally, Act Locally
Instructor: Aaron Bradley
Description
“We can’t boil the ocean, but we can move the needle.”
“What’s the biggest, smallest thing we can do to drive impactful change?”
“How might we leverage human centered design to help us think globally, while acting locally?”
Students in this highly interactive and experiential seminar will consider questions and concepts like these as we examine complex global issues and apply human-centered design tools like field research, rapid ideation, and low fidelity prototyping to design social innovation solutions with local impact. Class meetings emphasize collaboration and hands-on learning through workshops, field exercises, group discussion and critique, and collaborative working sessions in a transdisciplinary, team-based environment. Addressing global issues with the potential for community impact requires embracing ambiguity, immersing in new environments and mindsets, and working across cultural, social, and environmental borders – this course invites students from all disciplines to explore the potential of these approaches in a social innovation context, while building a transferrable skillset with endless possibilities.
This course counts toward a newly created Transdisciplinary Design Thinking and Innovation Certificate.
This class expanded my viewpoint on design as a way to empathetically look at society and systems, rather than how to create a product. Exploring human centered design from this perspective challenged me as a student and left me with a greater understanding of how to make actionable change locally and globally.
Jackie Cunningham, 2nd Year Industrial Design Student
Recent Team Project Examples:
- Improving pediatric health outcomes through enhanced patient experience
- Reducing campus food insecurity
- Re-envisioning career pathways for secondary educators
- Increasing air quality awareness in urban neighborhoods
This class offered me a hands-on learning experience in collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team, equipped me with a mindset focused on human centered design, and gave me the opportunity to explore innovation through a global lens.
Max Kemats; Economics Student