Work in progress - socially conscious innovation class

The authors are developing a course on socially conscience innovation. The purpose of the course is to teach students to identify and evaluate opportunities for new and innovative products. The course will be divided into five modules. Each module will begin with the students selecting an academic article read and summarize for the class. The first module will cover foundation topics. The following three modules are focused on an individual area for innovation. For the first offering the areas of concentration are active aging in modern society, the office environment and innovation at the bottom of the economic pyramid. For each area of concentration an academic subject expert will present on a topic on a topic relevant to the area of concentration. Next the class will go visit sites to explore the area of concentration and talk with people who live and or work with the issues involved. After collecting information the students will use a variety of methods to ideate solutions to the problems they discovered. In the last module the students will evaluate the product opportunities they have identified.