Overview

From Lagos to Liverpool, New York to New Delhi youth are changing the world in powerful ways. No longer content to remain on the sidelines as their planet warms, demagogues sow divisions, and rising inequality chokes off economic opportunity for millions, every day citizens are rising up, crossing lines of difference, and innovating in powerful and compassionate ways. This is less of a class than a call to arms: a design studio for the makers, dreamers, and visionaries who want to build a better world and don’t want to wait to do it.

Rather than learn about social change, students will lead it. Through case studies, innovative design tools, and collaborative exercises, students will learn the building blocks of leading social change and then will apply these principles to designing and launching projects that solve real-world problems. Students are encouraged to bring existing projects or ideas but they aren’t required. It is no longer enough to create a killer app or the next disruptive business to make money. How are you using your superpowers to improve the world?

The objective of this module is help students imagine, design, research, and launch a social change project that solves a critical issue facing the world. Whether that critical issue is climate change, education access, economic opportunity, mental health or anything else you dream of, this course will take you, step-by-step, through the design and implementation model.