Springboard: From Idea to Opportunity
Overview
This unit lays a practical foundation for students early in their journey towards becoming successful entrepreneurs. Students will learn to uncover opportunities, generate ideas, understand people’s needs, and overcome early obstacles. They will research, ideate, prototype, and test their ideas to make sure they’re solving meaningful problems. Masterclasses, mentoring, and peer learning will immerse them in Swinburne’s rich entrepreneurial ecosystem and help them engage with industry. Students will use the knowledge and skills they have built to refine an entrepreneurial opportunity as they build their expertise.
Requisites
27-October-2024
01-June-2025
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Justify methods for investigating, understanding, framing and informing approaches to problem-solving in relation to an entrepreneurial project or venture
- Apply research and prototyping to investigate entrepreneurial opportunities and balance technical, human and economic considerations of ideation and solution development
- Use narrative and storytelling to articulate and pitch ideas using verbal and visual communication processes
- Collaborate in teams using relevant communication tools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and foster inclusive decision-making
- Discuss and reflect on the challenges of entrepreneurship and applying innovation and creative processes through events and seminars, interdisciplinary workshops and self-directed learning
Teaching methods
All applicable locations
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
Specified Activities Group Meetings |
4 | 12 weeks | 48 |
Specified Activities Various |
2 | 12 weeks | 24 |
Unspecified Activities Independent Learning |
19 | 12 weeks | 228 |
| Total | 300 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULOs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project 1 | Individual | Pass/Fail | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| Project 2 | Individual | Pass/Fail | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| Project 3 | Group | Pass/Fail | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| Project 4 | Individual | Pass/Fail | 1,2,3,4,5 |
Content
- Applying tools and methods for innovative entrepreneurial practice
- Creative problem solving, human-centered design and empathy
- Research, prototyping and user testing
- Co-creation and evaluation
- Identifying and evaluating opportunities for entrpreneurship and innovation
- Approaches to interdisciplinary collaboration and project management
- Communication narratives and presentation techniques
- Emotional intelligence and team dynamics
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.