PBHL29001 - Social Innovation and Health: Human-Centred Design Thinking

General Information

Unit Synopsis

How might we enable people to improve their health? Moving on from an individual focus towards a more systems-based approach requires innovation in health promotion. Human-centered design thinking (HCDT) is used in public health to embed innovation and shift inquiry towards an empowering process of solution-finding. The focus is on introducing you to the core functions of health promotion and innovation. In the first half of the term, you should be able to analyse how a HCDT lens impacts public health policy, supportive environments, and community action. In the second half of the term, you should be able to apply HCDT tools to identify problems and define solutions. You should emerge from this unit with the confidence to approach a diversity of public health challenges.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2025

Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Group Work 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.86% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations Report; SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback
Students felt that the lecturers were very helpful and that all feedback provided was constructive and useful.
Recommendation
Continue to provide detailed, personalised and constructive feedback for learning to students.
Action Taken
The lecturers continued to provide student-centred, detailed, and personalised feedback to learners.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations Report; SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback
Students felt the lecturers were responsive, approachable and explained everything well and clearly.
Recommendation
Continue to explain concepts clearly using explicit teaching practices and providing examples, whilst being approachable and responsive to student queries. Continue to provide prompt replies to students' emails and provide accessible meeting hours for student consultations.
Action Taken
The lecturers continued to explain concepts clearly using explicit teaching practices and providing examples. The lectures also continued to be approachable and responsive to student queries, responding in a timely manner to student emails, and being available for student consultations. For example, the lecturers provided accessible meeting hours and constructive feedback through one-on-one consultations and regular email check-ins with students. General points of feedback that applied to the entire cohort were also posted in the 'Announcements' on Moodle to provide further support.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report; discussions with students; personal unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
The assessments included several components and instructions. Some assessments used less traditional or common formats. Thus, the types of assessments may be new to some students and may therefore be challenging. Additional support may be needed.
Recommendation
Provide additional on-campus office hours, additional resources and learning materials on Moodle, and exemplars to exemplify the requirements of the assessments. Review the assessments to ensure that they are as clear, appropriate, and straightforward as possible.
Action Taken
The Unit Coordinator and lecturers continued to provide additional on-campus office hours, further resources and learning materials on Moodle, and exemplars to exemplify the requirements of the assessments. Additionally, the assessments were reviewed and simplified where possible, notably Assessment 2 was streamlined and enhanced for greater clarity.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback
The unit was comprehensive with various resources and materials that included real-world examples and applications.
Recommendation
Continue to offer authentic learning activities and materials with many real-world examples for students, whilst demonstrating practical implications in the field.
Action Taken
The Unit Coordinator continued to provide authentic learning activities and materials with many real-world examples for students, whilst demonstrating practical implications in the field. For example, a guest lecturer presented in Week 12 to showcase how the content that students learned about is applicable in real world public health.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback
Students appreciated the guest lecture at the end of the term, which included a guest speaker discussing what social innovation and health look like in practice and how to position oneself to apply for such roles after their studies.
Recommendation
Continue to invite guest speakers to showcase to students what the learning concepts look like when applied in the real world.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback
Students felt the lecturers were approachable, created a positive learning environment, explained everything well and clearly, and provided helpful feedback.
Recommendation
Continue to explain concepts clearly using explicit teaching practices and providing examples, whilst being approachable and responsive to student queries. Continue to foster a safe and welcoming learning environment, provide useful feedback, respond promptly to students' emails, and offer accessible meeting hours for student consultations.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations Report
Feedback
Students expressed that they would like to have more examples or elaboration of concepts provided.
Recommendation
Include additional real-world examples and expand upon learning concepts in greater detail in the content delivery and in the learning resources and materials.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations Report
Feedback
Students noted that they would like to be asked further questions to make them think more critically.
Recommendation
Provide further opportunities in tutorials for greater critical discussion, with collaborative question and answer dialogue to get students thinking more deeply about the unit content.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Critique the challenges of addressing the action areas of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
  2. Synthesise health promotion and innovation concepts to critically discuss contemporary public health problems
  3. Interpret and apply human-centred design thinking skills to creatively define problems and generate meaningful solutions appropriate to public health practice
  4. Reflect on your own strengths-based approach to public health innovation.

N/A

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Group Work • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
2 - Communication • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research • •
5 - Self-management • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • •
7 - Leadership •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8