Innovation Challenge Project
Overview
This unit provides the opportunity for students to experience and understand the challenges of working as part of an interdisciplinary team. Students will apply various creative problem solving tools and approaches to generate and develop innovative solutions in response to a real-world project brief. Students will develop project management and entrepreneurial skills in professional and research contexts for inclusive innovation cultures. Students will be coached by academic members of staff from different disciplines. They will be expected to engage in projects with high levels of self-direction that will include personal accountability and responsibility, while collaborating with others.
Requisites
01-June-2025
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Apply judgement to planning and decision making for creative problem solving and user research methods, in relation to a given project or problem
- Deal effectively with constraints, timelines and project requirements that develop ideas into designed solutions proposed for a complex and/or large-scale project
- Articulate and justify project proposals to a variety of stakeholders using a range of written, verbal, and visual communication processes
- Effectively use prototyping techniques to communicate, explore and test ideas to develop an appropriate design solution
- Demonstrate entrepreneurial processes to develop and justify the business case of a proposed design solution
- Construct collaborative and inclusive management processes and skills to working in an interdisciplinary team in relation to a specific project
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Activity Type | Activity | Total Hours | Number of Weeks | Hours Per Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus | Studio | 24 | 12 weeks | 2 |
| On-campus | Studio | 36 | 12 weeks | 3 |
| Unspecified Activities | Various | 180 | 12 weeks | 15 |
| Specified Activities | Various | 60 | 12 weeks | 5 |
| Total Hours: | 300 | Total Hours (per week): | 25 | |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflective Piece | Individual | 20% | 1,2,3,4,5,6 |
| Project Presentation | Group | 40% | 1,2,3,4,5,6 |
| Project Report | Group | 40% | 1,2,3,4,5,6 |
Content
- Innovation culture
- Entrepreneurial mindset and decision making
- Interdisciplinary teamwork approaches
- Creative problem solving
- Idea generation and development
- User research strategies
- Communication and presentation techniques
- Lean start-up techniques and business model innovation
- Design and development processes for innovation
- Professional project documentation and presentation
- Project management and low hierarchy
- Adaptability and response to change
- Ethical and responsible conduct
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and negotiation
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.