HR9716 - Strategic Innovation Practice

Learning and teaching strategy / how learning materials provided / how the student participates
In this module, you will learn through a combination of seminars, workshops and project supervision sessions. Seminars will be used to introduce core concepts, allow group working and encourage discussion and debate.

A part of your directed learning will be based on practical engagement in a studio environment where you will work on a number of team projects. This will allow you to practice design-led innovation, applying and testing the theory, knowledge, and concepts that you have learnt. Project supervision sessions will provide ongoing feedback on performance and support project progress as tutors challenge and coach you. Each project concludes with a detailed ‘project unpack’. Project unpack facilitates reflection, evaluation and critical review providing formative feedback on performance and helping to consolidate learning.

Project planning and evaluation session will allow you to engage with active researchers as you conduct research with the academic team using innovation practice as the leading methodology.

All learning materials, tasks and readings will be posted on shared digital filing platforms (core programme material located on the eLP ‘Blackboard’) to enable participation within the seminar programme. Summative assessment will establish your learning against the learning outcomes for the module.

You will be supported by a team of academic experts in scheduled seminars and project supervision sessions. You will engage in a rich dialogue with tutors (and fellow students), in timetabled sessions, and receive feedback on ongoing work giving you the opportunity to respond directly as part of your process. You will keep a record of project activities and encounters to enhance both your skills and intellectual understanding and also to develop your Portfolio of Practice.

This module is constructed through a series of critical enquiries that enable students, academics and researchers to work together to practice design-led innovation that delivers impactful solutions and new knowledge. Two core questions guide this module, the knowledge you will be introduced to and the research inquiry that the tutors and students conduct together: How does the multidisciplinary entrepreneurial professional lead within organisations and communities? What knowledge and advanced approaches support networked responsible innovation practice to deliver strategic value? You will be supported by the academic team in understanding how to create the assessment Portfolio of Practice and what evidence you need to collect during the semester in support of your assignment.

The Northern Design Centre is open 24 hours a day, 7 days and week enabling a flexible approach to learning and innovation project delivery. Digital work environments are encouraged as an integral aspect of the programme enabling collaborative practices between you and your peer group, the academics, researchers and Innovators in Residence.

The Library is open 24 hours a day and the E-Learning Portal houses all your module documents including your timetable. These services can be accessed on a range of devices. ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purposes) support is integrated with the programme and aims to develop study skills to support your achievement of module learning outcomes.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1) Demonstrate your ability to understand and apply a range of design-led innovation approaches and resources.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
2) Defend and challenge the core elements of a strategy produced as a response to a programme innovation project.
3) Produce a critical evaluation of innovation opportunities within the context of mega trends and local issues.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
4) Shape, direct, engage with and facilitate ethical design-led co-creation.

Formative assessment will be provided through weekly contact with peers and tutors, and through in-depth project debriefing sessions.

Summative assessment will review a portfolio of practice. This portfolio contains two parts. Part A is a reflective account of key learning through the application of theory into practice and engagement with innovation projects. Part B is a critical report outlining the influence of specific mega trends and micro issues for a particular organisation or community and how the cohort’s project (thinking and outputs) can be used to form strategy and recommendations to enable improved resilience.

Part A of the portfolio of practice will assess module learning outcomes (1) (2) & (4). Part B will assess module learning outcomes (2) & (3).

Feedback will be provided through tutorial support throughout the module. Written feedback on summative assessment will be provided.

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Drive strategic change. Working within an energetic, talented and creative team you will tackle real-world challenges with external organisations and communities. You will develop strategic value through advanced design-led innovation practice. During this module, you will extend your own development as a multidisciplinary entrepreneurial professional and deliver co-creation by:
• Practicing in depth and meaningful value creation
• Understanding interconnected perspectives through stakeholder mapping
• Creating cohesive arguments using the outputs of design-led innovation methods
• Building compelling narratives to shape and support project outcomes
• Practicing integrated strategy mapping to influence positive change
• Creating and presenting innovation pathways that highlight the link between local issues and mega trends.
This module will encourage you to locate your practice within the broader context of ‘understanding and leading teams’, ‘communities of practice’, and ‘competitiveness and strategy’, while developing and defending new value through effective brand development, strategic goal setting, and business modelling.