This course reinforces the communication strategies practiced in COMM-1173 to provide students with the communication skills needed to apply for, stay in, and progress in the world of work. Students will further develop their interpersonal skills and digital fluency by seeking college, industry and community supports. Additionally, they will apply speaking, writing, and collaboration strategies to getting the job, adjusting to the job, and developing long-term career goals. Communication for the Workplace is a creative and active learning opportunity to set students apart in today’s competitive job market.
Governance Structures is a natural progression from the Human Resources and Operations Management course completed in Term 1. In this course, students will be introduced to a range of governance models traditionally adopted in community development organizations. This focus will expand to incorporate innovative governance models used in social innovation organizations. Students will explore the functions of management and policy boards, advisory committees, and partnerships. They will examine the legal and social impact of various models on the communities they serve.
In this course, students will explore the meaning and purpose of social enterprise, including the origins, structures, scope, principles, and potential, using examples of social enterprise for illustration. Students will engage with local social enterprises through research speakers, and tours, as possible.
In this case- and land-based foundational course, students will be introduced to the concept of “design thinking.” They will learn to place the needs and interests of our ecosystem at the centre of the process and why this is essential to success in social innovation. They will learn how to cultivate creative confidence in themselves, their colleagues, their clients, and the community. They will explore the process of iteration and prototyping an idea from an initial concept to a working model. While engaging collaboratively with community members, students will learn the tools and techniques for co-design.
Students will work in small teams matched with a social enterprise (SE). They will build or improve an organizational process, project, or infrastructure determined by the needs of the SE. They will be jointly supervised and mentored by the instructor and the SE. Using current project management tools and procedures, students will define the project, design a plan for completion, assign responsibilities, monitor progress, and present the completed project to the SE, the class, and invited guests. The project will provide the students with work-integrated experience and an opportunity to work closely with a potential employee.
Participants will explore financial management in order to develop the financial infrastructure to launch a social enterprise.
In this course, participants will explore human resources functions and operations management using examples from community development and social enterprise settings.
Participants will define how they will assess and test the desirability, feasibility, and viability of their prototypes.
In this course, students will be introduced to marketing principles including primary and secondary markets, demographics, psychographics, messaging, brand identity, marketing strategies, and marketing campaigns. They will be guided through the development of a marketing plan and advertising strategies for a social enterprise creating or broadening its prospective customer base.
In this course, students will plan a marketing campaign, set realistic and motivating campaign goals, launch the campaign, define the marketing metrics to track the campaign goals and measure the performance of the campaign. They will review examples of marketing campaigns used in social enterprises and examine the key elements that contributed to success.
Students will learn how to set up and use a customer relationship management (CRM) system to store customer and prospect data, track customer interactions, and manage customer relationships. They will customize settings, import contact details, set up a dashboard to manage sales and business opportunities, and track leads within a sales funnel.