Design Thinking and IT Empower Social Innovation

The aim of this course is to provide students with Design Thinking methodology, information technology knowledge, and business concepts to drive social innovation. Our society is facing various social challenges, including in the field of social inclusion, ageing, healthcare, environment, poverty, underprivileged groups, etc. Therefore, we will introduce key concepts of information technologies and business, and use Design Thinking methodology to motivate students to understand how innovative digital solutions play a role in solving these social challenges. For example, AI technology may allow visually impaired people see road conditions, data analytics may predict and prevent elderly’s health risks.

 

This course adopts a field trip and problem-based learning approach. Students will learn the historical and cultural analysis of social challenges, development and key theories of information technology, as well as an overview of business knowledge, including a review of the relationship between technology, business, and social innovation. We will also give an overview of current innovative examples of IT applications in social issues (e.g. Microsoft Seeing AI application empowers visually impaired groups, Jockey Club Age-Friendly City Projects using big data analytics to predict risky cases in elderly care homes, etc,). We will guide students to use Stanford's Design Thinking methodology. Design Thinking workshops will be conducted to develop students’ empathy and understanding of social challenges, and lead students to analyse and apply various IT and business theories to design feasible, sustainable, and creative solutions for the society. We will conduct design workshops with our partners (social enterprises/NGOs). Students can choose the specific social issue they want to tackle and work with related partners for empathy development and idea testing.

 

After completing the course, students will have a deeper understanding of contemporary social challenges, and gain the knowledge and skills on how to use IT to tackle social problems and design creative innovations.

 

Access the Course Syllabus @BUniPort

To view the course syllabus, please login the BUniPort and click the course titles in the "Course Information" page under "Programmes and Course Information".