Unit information: Transdisciplinary Group Project 1: Being Human in 2021/22

Unit name	Transdisciplinary Group Project 1: Being Human
Unit code	INOV10002
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Ms. Jenkins
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	INOV10001
School/department	Centre for Innovation
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Students will not only focus on ‘being human’ from an innovation and entrepreneurship perspective but also acknowledge their own humanity in reflecting on their working practices. Innovation and entrepreneurship are ultimately human centred, placing the person at the centre of the process whether that is as an end user, customer or stakeholder, and understanding their perspectives on a particular challenge or problem is key to creating value and successful enterprises. Students will use participatory design and co-production to build up the understanding of users/customers/stakeholders and where to create value for them. They will also learn to recognise what skills and resources they have themselves and as a team, as well as the effectiveness and impact of applying those skills and resources to an innovation and entrepreneurial opportunity to create value.

Transdisciplinary collaboration is one in which disciplines come together to enrich their thinking and understanding, exchanging information, altering discipline-specific approaches, sharing resources and integrating the disciplines to achieve a common goal (Rosenfield 1992).The students will work in transdisciplinary groups on a series of short innovation and entrepreneurial projects building an understanding as they work iteratively of the active relationships within the team and with the person they are designing for and with. Through a collaborative and participative approach of the different disciplines coming together the students will also build up an acute awareness of the importance of a common language and understand the needs of different disciplines, as well as how being human can effect what makes an efficient and effective team.

The aims of this unit are:

• To introduce key theories relating to ‘being human’ from an innovation and entrepreneurship perspective;
• To introduce key theories, and methods that will support students to understand how to build participatory relations with those they are designing with and for;
• To build an understanding of what skills and resources the students have and how to assess the potential application of them to a particular innovation and entrepreneurial opportunity;
• To support students to think creatively and build common languages for collaboration across disciplines;
• To build empathy across disciplines;
• To enable students to develop critical reflection of their own innovative co-design, entrepreneurial and transdisciplinary group practices;
• To build understanding of the process of documenting collaborative, co-design and entrepreneurial work.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students successfully completing the unit will be able to:

1. Summarise the theory of collaborative and participatory design, and discuss how it applies in a range of contexts and settings.
2. Apply the methods of collaborative and participatory design to create value in a series of innovation and entrepreneurial challenges.
3. Assess the opportunity for innovation led entrepreneurship and value creation against the skills and resources available.
4. Document the participatory, collaborative design work process.
5. Reflect critically on their group work and on the process of designing with and for others.

Teaching Information

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including lectures and practical activities supported by collaborative and self-directed learning.

Students will be advised to set up their own spaces online for group collaboration.

Assessment Information

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. INOV10002).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.