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Scaling Your Impact: A Studio for Student Ventures
EDU T544

Course Information

Description

This course is designed to support students with existing or emerging for- or non-profit social impact ventures to deepen and/or extend the impact of their work. The class will be introduced to a set of reusable tools and processes that participants will apply to their own initiatives. Students will define the Impact Ecosystem(s) - including primary beneficiaries, people necessary for adoption and implementation, and those who fund and create policy to propel impact  - in which their innovations must thrive. Students will also analyze the competitive and collaborative landscapes to identify the distinctive contributions of their innovations within and across contexts. These analyses will help determine the appropriate direction(s) of scale - down, out, or up - and what members of the ecosystem must be activated in service of that impact direction. Students will prototype and test artifacts with members of their ecosystems to check assumptions and refine their efforts, with a focus on representing evidence of change to match the values of targeted stakeholders. Sharing across ventures that vary in context and maturity will feed innovation. At the end of the module, students will present specific plans of action for their ventures.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 2
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals Students will learn how to: - Determine the appropriate direction of scaling impact: up, down, and out; - Map challenges to define critical obstacles to impact; - Identify stakeholders and their values in the impact ecosystem; - Leverage values to activate the relevant members of ecosystem in service of impact goals; - Craft a theory of change and theories of action that bridge vision and action; - Analyze the competitive and collaborative landscape; - Articulate the "secret sauce" of an innovation/venture; - Adapt solutions for different contexts; - Create a concrete scaling plan supported by research and stakeholder insights.
Career Focus

T544 supports students who have launched, are launching, or are active participants or principals in a social impact venture. The coursework and reusable tools will prepare students for the world of impact entrepreneurship across domains and geographic contexts. Whether as founders, partners, funders, or key employess, students will be able to bring processes to facilitate deepening and extending impact that can be sustained over time.