Course coordinator
Dr Lance Newey
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Business School
This course introduces students to social innovation and entrepreneurship via hands-on applied learning. An overarching theme is teaching students blended value business models, which involve knowing how to create both social and financial value at the same time. Key emphases are on how to create positive sustainable social impact while also turning a profit. Students will form teams around a social opportunity of their passion and then be given the skills to further shape, evaluate and execute their project. Students are taught a discovery-driven approach to finding the right opportunity for innovation and entrepreneurship. Students must devise innovative solutions to their social opportunity and learn how to design it in a way that could transition into a viable and sustainable, financially self-sufficient business. Assessment in the course is based on the demonstration of course-taught practical skills, ability to make a financially sustainable social impact, and reflective learning-from-experience skills. The personal and professional development focus of the course culminates in an Awards Day which recognizes the commitment and passion of outstanding individuals and teams.
Social entrepreneurship (SE) is the process of creating, evaluating and exploiting opportunities for social impact through profitable business models. SE has arisen as an innovative organizational solution to addressing complex social issues. As such, students are attracted to learning how they can develop a business but also have a meaningful impact in the world at the same time. But social entrepreneurship requires particular skill development. As such, this course aims to give students practical experience at using lean startup methodology to work towards a viable, sustainable and impactful social enterprise. Students are exposed to a process which, by the end of the course, helps them to 1) build social business models, 2) actually test key assumptions in the real world and 3) aim to have a real social impact on a particular social issue. The vision of the course is motivated by the belief that the world needs social entrepreneurs who go beyond 'good intentions' to instead be skilled and experienced in both social impact and social change. Students will be introduced to a scientific approach to addressing social issues, drawing on evidence-based research around solutions that actually work. They will further learn how to convert such solutions into products and services for their intended beneficiaries. Importantly, students will learn how to connect their social impact endeavours to a financially sustainable business model. Students will develop personally by being prompted to question how they wish to make an impact in the world as well as by having to experience a social issue first-hand. Students will leave the course with a process for social entrepreneurship, practical experience towards having an impact, an evolved social business model, and more personal capability.
Sustainable Development Goals - UQ Business School is a proud supporter and Advanced Signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME). As part of the largest global collaboration between business schools and the UN, the school emphasises its role in empowering students to drive societal transformation through the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs highlight that a thriving economy relies on a healthy environment, aiming to balance economic growth, social well-being, and environmental protection for a sustainable future.
Course requirements
Incompatible
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
TIMS3304
Course contact
Lecturer
Dr Lance Newey
Course staff
Lecturer
Mrs Gana Tugei
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
Please note: Teaching staff do not have access to the timetabling system to help with class allocation. Therefore, should you need help with your timetable and/or allocation of classes, please email business.mytimetable@uq.edu.au from your UQ student email account with the following details:
- Full Name
- Student ID
- Course Code
Aims and outcomes
This course aims to help students come to an understanding of, and develop practical skills in, social entrepreneurship via a learning-by-doing approach.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Understand what social entrepreneurship is and the scope of the field.
LO2.
Develop social business models.
LO3.
Use lean startup methodology to adapt social business models.
LO4.
Measure social impact.
LO5.
Practically execute a social business model in entrepreneurial teams.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation |
Test the Problem & Solution Review
|
25% |
28/04/2025 5:00 pm |
| Presentation | Test the Solution | 25% |
2/06/2025 5:00 pm |
| Notebook/ Logbook |
Individual & Peer Impact Statement
|
50% |
16/06/2025 5:00 pm |
Assessment details
Test the Problem & Solution Review
- Mode
- Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia
- Category
- Presentation
- Weight
- 25%
- Due date
28/04/2025 5:00 pm
- Other conditions
- Peer assessed.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L03, L04, L05
Task description
Assessment #1: Test the Problem + Solution Review In-Class Presentation (25%)
Purpose:
- To gain in-depth experience of the social issue of focus;
- To review relevant academic research literature relating to social issue solutions;
- To compel students to engage external stakeholders early in their project design;
- To test social impact model assumptions early and often;
- To show students the process for and power of an assumption testing approach to entrepreneurship;
- To have clarity around a ‘solution’ to be tested in the next phase.
Task: In teams of no more than 5 members, students are to do an in-class 15 minute presentation covering the following themes:
- Case example of social issue (evidence of emotional engagement);
- Initial 4-box PCSM (problem-cause-strategy-measure);
- External and internal scan;
- Assumptions within the PCSM model chosen to be tested;
- Why these assumptions;
- How did you test the assumptions;
- Diversity of stakeholders engaged;
- Causes, Perspectives and Theories;
- Solution review (3 alternatives);
- Solution selection;
- What did you learn;
- What changes will you make to your evolving social impact model (PCSM)?
- Solution to be tested in next phase.
Key Information:
- Not all students have to present but ALL students must contribute to compiling the presentation;
- Students are to submit the presentation by the due date, after which no changes can be made. Students can attend the presentations of other students. Teams must present the same presentation as that submitted and with no further changes.
- This is a group mark;
- All students in the team will get the group mark unless team members feel inequity in all members getting the same mark. In cases where the team feels that the group mark should not be shared equally (e.g. a team member contributed nothing) then those students with the grievance should write to the Lecturer explaining the situation and the percentage of effort contributed by the team member in question.
Upload
For Assessment, each team is required to upload their presentation slides to Blackboard.
Students must complete this Assessment to pass the Course
This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Each team is to upload their video to the TIMS7329 Blackboard site.
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Test the Solution
- Mode
- Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia
- Category
- Presentation
- Weight
- 25%
- Due date
2/06/2025 5:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L05
Task description
Assessment #2: Test the Solution (25%)
Purpose: This assessment item has four learning objectives:
- To test students’ ability to develop social impact solutions based on a social impact model;
- To test students’ ability to actually execute a social impact solution;
- To test students’ ability to learn from social solution testing and modify their social business model accordingly;
- To test student’s ability to choose consistent high impact contributions to the team and project.
In the same teams as last assessment, Students are to do a 10-minute pre-recorded video presentation covering the following themes:
- PCSM after Test the Problem
- Problem, Cause, Solution Design Features map
- Hypothesis map & Selection
- Experiment (design and execution)
- Fidelity assessment
- New insights from experiment
- Finishing PCSM compared with one at end of Test the Problem
- Business Model (profit model, value proposition, business strategy, risk management)
- Evidence of financial sustainability;
- Justify why this venture should be a social enterprise design and not a purely commercial venture;
- Critique your test the solution experiment and business models in terms of whether to persevere, pivot or perish;
- Course reflections
Key Information:
- Not all students have to present, but ALL students must contribute to compiling the presentation;
- This is a group mark;
- All students in the team will get the group mark unless team members feel inequity in all members getting the same mark. In cases where the team feels that the group mark should not be shared equally (eg. a team member contributed nothing) then those students with the grievance should write to the Lecturer explaining the situation and the percentage of effort contributed by the team member in question.
Students MUST complete this Assessment to pass the course
This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Video to be uploaded to Blackboard
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Individual & Peer Impact Statement
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Notebook/ Logbook
- Weight
- 50%
- Due date
16/06/2025 5:00 pm
- Other conditions
- Longitudinal.
- Learning outcomes
- L02, L03, L04
Task description
Task:
At the due date, each individual student is to submit a file containing two documents:
- Weekly diary of individual impact;
- Peer evaluation.
Students MUST complete this Assessment to pass the course
- Weekly diary of individual impact:
From a learning point of view, a key focus of this course is challenging students to make the most impact they can within the time frame of the project. From an assessment point of view then, this means that you will be assessed based on:
- Your actual individual impacts
- How consistently you contribute impacts
Let’s look at each:
Actual Individual Impact:
Within social enterprises there are usually two main impacts: business and social. So, you need to provide evidence here of the things you did in the project and how they created business, social or both types of impact.
Consistent Contributions (weekly productivity):
It is not enough to contribute every now and again throughout the semester. Businesses don’t run that way. You need to be working towards creating an impact through weekly activities that you do. So, you also need to provide evidence of how you maintained a strong weekly work ethic to making your social enterprise team achieve its impacts. This is an issue of productivity – a measure of how much time you spent on the project and how that time led to meaningful results in terms of actual impact.
So, in this section of the plan you need to fill out the relevant table as set out on the next page.
This Table then constitutes your Individual Impact Statement. Try to provide as much detail as you can in the columns “Activities you Did”, “Results”. This is your chance to advance your case as to why you deserve a certain grade. But you’ll also most likely have good weeks and bad weeks in terms of results or have weeks where you did a lot of activities and others that were light (because of assessments in other courses, for instance). Just be honest about all this. Use the comments column to shed light on what was happening for you in that week. What you want to aim for though is to make sure that overall you have worked hard (Activities you Did) and most of that work converted into meaningful outcomes. The Table plus peer evaluations (which we discuss next) are the only things you need to submit in this section.
Weekly Diary of Individual Impact
- Week
- Activities
- State what you did and how long you did it for.
- (eg. researched theory of change for 2 hours)
- Uptake (Was your work taken up by the team?)
- If YES, state how your work was used by the team. (eg. my research was directly included in our presentation where we mention the root cause)
AI Statement:
This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Students are to submit via Turn-it-In through the Blackboard Assessment link
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 0 - 29 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 30 - 46 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 47 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Additional course grading information
Grades will be allocated according to University-wide standards of criterion-based assessment.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 |
Seminar |
What is Social Entrepreneurship? Introduction to social entrepreneurship and to the Course Structure What will I learn & what will I experience? Learning outcomes: L01 |
Week 2 |
Seminar |
Inside the Social Enterprise - Case Study What does a real social enterprise look like? - Bettr Barista Case Study Learning outcomes: L01, L02 |
Week 3 |
Seminar |
Project Shopping & Team Formation Time to decide a topic (social issue you are passionate about) and a team (who you want to work with) for the rest of semester Learning outcomes: L01, L05 |
Week 4 |
Seminar |
Creating Your Social Entrepreneurship Opportunity We've got an idea but what's the social entrepreneurship opportunity? What opportunity will allow us to have both a social impact and make a profit? Learning outcomes: L03, L05 |
Week 5 |
Seminar |
Theory of Change *Critically important topic Root causes & theory of change What does the research and evidence say are the most effective solutions? Learning outcomes: L03, L05 |
Week 6 |
Seminar |
Designing Solutions From theory to user-friendly practical solutions Learning outcomes: L03, L05 |
Week 7 |
Seminar |
Assessment 1 Workshop & Impact Measurement How to do Assessment 1 Ways to measure if we have had an impact Learning outcomes: L03, L04, L05 |
Week 8 |
Seminar |
Assessment 1 Learning outcomes: L05 |
Week 9 |
Seminar |
Hypothesis Testing of Minimum Viable Products First test of part of your solution Learning outcomes: L03, L05 |
Week 10 |
Seminar |
Social impact & Business strategy Connecting social impact with business competitiveness Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L05 |
Week 11 |
Seminar |
MVP & Business Strategy Workshop Connecting product/service design with business strategy Learning outcomes: L02, L03 |
Week 12 |
Seminar |
Telling your Business Model Story Workshop Getting clear on what you are offering, to whom and how it will make money Learning outcomes: L02, L03 |
Week 13 |
Seminar |
Preparation for Assessment 2 Completing your business model Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L04, L05 |
Revision week |
Seminar |
Revision Week |
Additional learning activity information
Sustainable Development Goals
This course integrates the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout course design, learning activities and / or assessment.
Goal 3: Good health and well-being
Goal 5: Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation
Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
Goal 9: Industries, innovation and infrastructure
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.