| Unit name | Transdisciplinary Group Project 2: Solving Someone's Problem |
|---|---|
| Unit code | INOV20002 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Senior |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Centre for Innovation |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Collaborating with the Centre’s extensive social and commercial network, you and your team will tackle real-world challenges and client briefs. Industry partners and mentors, alongside academic support, will provide guidance to help you navigate the process. Using design thinking, you will work in small, agile teams to discover, define, test, and demonstrate innovative solutions that address your client’s user needs. Design thinking fosters creativity, problem-solving, and user-centred innovation, making it essential for you to develop adaptable, empathetic, and effectively designed solutions.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
This unit fits into your program of study by helping you practice agile processes in dynamic business contexts, deepen your understanding of participatory design methods, and refine your critical reflection on co-design and transdisciplinary collaboration. It also supports your professional development by enhancing your communication, presentation, and teamwork skills through engagement with real-world clients.
An overview of content
This unit guides you through the flexible design-thinking process to tackle real-world client challenges. It begins with team formation, ethics, and problem definition. You learn key research methodologies such as semi-structured interviewing, autoethnography, and affinity diagramming. You will then synthesise your research data, define insights, and set design principles before sharing your findings with the client. The unit progresses into ideation, prototyping, and testing, with ongoing client interactions and feedback. In the final weeks, students refine their solutions through storytelling and presentation workshops, culminating in a client showcase where you demonstrate your innovative, user-centred solutions.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
By the end of this unit, you will have developed a more user-centred approach to problem-solving, enhancing your ability to adapt to real-world challenges. You will gain hands-on experience in research, ideation, and prototyping while strengthening your communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. Engaging with clients and industry mentors will build your confidence in presenting and justifying design decisions. Most importantly, you will leave with a deeper understanding of participatory design and the ability to create innovative, empathetic, and impactful solutions.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Communicate effectively to different audiences and project stakeholders
2. Discover, analyse and synthesise creatively against a client-led brief.
3. Reflect and critique design methodologies and theories used during the project.
4. Demonstrate lateral thinking - ideate and test multiple divergent design concepts.
5. Deliver a user-centred and client-appropriate solution through to proof of concept.
Teaching will be focused on interactive studio-style workshop sessions based on a series of case studies and small-group project work supported by in-person lectures. This simulates the group-based professional context of design practice and allows for the kind of discussion, debate, and diversity of perspective that really stimulates transformative creative learning. Teaching and assessment are focused on real-world case studies to add to the authenticity of what is being learnt and why.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Reflective Critique (individual assessment), 2000 words or equivalent (40%) [ILOs 1,2,3]
Team Project (group assessment), 3500 words or equivalent (60%) [ILOs 1,2,4,5]
A client-facing team report documenting the innovation process for a client project including a proof of concept for the design solution. The word count will be shared across the group and may be scaled based on team size.
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. INOV20002).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
