DESCRIPTION
A course taught through I&E-processes often involves a lot of different actors in addition to the course responsible. This could be people with practical experience in relation to the course’s subject areas, innovation experts, external facilitators and generally different kinds of professionals suitable for giving feedback on the students’ projects.
As such it is important to clarify which actors are involved and what their responsibilities are – this could be done already at the beginning of the course. Course expectations and the individuals’ different roles of the project need to be discussed in order to ensure a mutual understanding of the purpose of the course and the teaching format.
Beneath you will find a short description of the roles of different actors that are normally involved in a course dealing with innovation and/or entrepreneurship.
GUIDANCE
Make a short description of the people involved in the course and the different roles they play within the course. Important actors in an innovative process could be e.g.:
- COURSE RESPONSIBLE
with the subject disciplinary responsibility and the overall responsibility of the course - COORDINATION
responsible for project management and coordination. This could be the same person as the course responsible. - FACILITATOR
responsible for the progress of the innovation process as well as supervision and facilitating the students in relation to handling uncertainties, chaotic processes and conflicts within the team. - EXTERNAL PRESENTERS
provide inspiration and professional presentations within the course framework. - THE STUDENT
responsible for deliverables and preparation before class and workshops. - GROUP
responsible for dividing responsibility and working on group dynamics. - CLIENT (company or firm)
responsible for developing a relevant case, being available to students and answering their questions as well as providing relevant materials. - CONSULTANTS from the innovation or learning units at your educational institution, with shared responsibility for parts of, or the entire, innovation process, project management and coordination.
Below you can download inspirational examples of different actors and roles within innovation courses.
DOWNLOAD MATERIALS
Examples of role descriptions from summer school – Innovation Inspired By Nature 2013, SCIENCE, KU
Examples of role descriptions from service innovation summer school, 2011, HUM, KU
Examples of role descriptions from workshop in sociology of theatre, HUM, KU
Method: Group exercises in balancing expectations at the beginning of a project or course
Download (word) template for role descriptions in an I&E course (Danish)