How to Change the World: Innovation Toward Sustainability 2011

21E10000 HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD: INNOVATION TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY 2011 (6 ETCS)

“How to change the world: Innovation toward sustainability” course exposes the world with challenges. Through lectures, exercices, and guest practitioner views the students get an idea of real world societal problems: what they are, how they can be modeled, and why it is important to tackle them. More importantly, the course aims at exploring paths and alternatives for creative and innovative responses to sustainability challenges. Global environmental and social sustainability problems are taken as starting points for innovation of new forms of individual action, economic activity, business models, and organizational forms. The course addresses three main areas of sustainability innovation: energy and material efficient business models, poverty alleviation through entrepreneurial approach and social entrepreneurship. As to the working methods, we employ a variety of interactive working methods, which encourage the students to explore and reflect upon their own thinking patterns and invent new ideas in a collaborative manner.

Course website: https://cie.hkkk.fi/21E10000

Instructors: Professor Minna Halme and researcher Eeva Houtbeckers

Time: Jan. 17 – March 3, 2011, at 14-16 unless otherwise notified (no lectures on Jan. 20, Feb. 21 & Feb. 24)

Place: Arkadia E-012

Programme:

Registration: WebOodi Dec. 22, 2010 – Jan. 10, 2011

Grading:
• Interactive lectures 40%
• Team project 30%
• Applied book exam: Reading corner 20%
• Learning diary: 10%

Reading corner:

Reading corner is a way to discuss the literature on the course, share ideas and generate collaboratively ideas and questions. Reading corner is a required meeting for the course (min. one sessions, see below) and affects the course grade. It is also a great way to meet and get to know the other
students, esp. from outside your project group. There are four books on the course and people can choose a book to read and to present. Reading groups are formed around books people select to read.

Reading groups have to present the central arguments and learnings from the book they have read. Groups are free to organize this presentation style & format themselves. Time allotted for presentations is 20 mins, the rest is left for shared discussion. Two books are discussed during each session. Students are welcome to attend more than one session.

Place: Reading Groups are held at HSE faculty cafeteria, restaurant Proffa @ Runeberginkatu 14-16, 2nd floor

Books for the reading cornershttp://www.amazon.com/Responsibility-Work-Leading-Professionals-Responsibly/dp/0787994758/
• How to Change the World, David Bornstein
• The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, John Elkington & Pamela Hartigan
• Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester R. Brown
• Happiness: Lessons from the New Science, Richard Layard.

Learning Diary:
Learning diary is a personal account of learning: “what have I learned”, “what are my questions about issues I’m still thinking about”, and“what issues are contradictory or need clarification” (i.e. what have I learned from the work done so far). Learning diary ought to be completed by March 15, 2011 in any format student wants. It needs to be submitted in edited and understandable format. Length is 2-5 pages (11pt Arial, 1.5 line spacing, standard margins, A4 size). Learning diary represents 10% of the course grade, but is more valuable as a learning tool.

Additional information:
The participation in the course is limited to max 25 students. The students taking the Management program or Creative Sustainability program have priority. The Creative Sustainability program has a quota for 15 students.