Developing Critical Reflection Skills via Social Innovation Projects

Abstract

The USI2001 module is a pass/fail 3-credit compulsory module. This study aims to analyse students’ reflections in five phases of their social innovation project i.e., the empathize and define, ideation, creation, consolidation, and review phases. The study adopts a learner-centred transformative approach to nurture undergraduates who are more ‘inclusive, discriminating, open, emotionally capable of change and reflective’ (Mezirow, 2000, pp.7-8) when solving ill-defined problems. The ability to reflect critically in the process of designing solutions will help students to be more aware of the need to consider multiple perspectives, evaluate their assumptions and embrace collaboration with actual users in the process of developing sustainable solutions for the users. Furthermore, the ability to manage collaborative projects in a changing environment critically, effectively, and sustainably with technological tools are transferable skills that can be used across industries and jobs, thus improving students’ employability (SkillsFuture, 2023).