This assessment aims to have you reflect on the unit materials and to use your sociological understanding by selecting and answering four portfolio questions. The questions offered require you to demonstrate an understanding of wicked social problems, the process of self-change and social change, the influence of power by social change agents to effect change, and knowledge of the human-centred design principles.

Instructions

You are required to submit a portfolio containing four 400-word answers (total 1600 words with a cover page and reference list). An Introduction and Conclusion section are not required for this assessment. Each portfolio question will be marked out of 20%, with 15% for referencing and 5% for writing quality overall to reach a total of 100%. Please see the Assessment 1 marking rubric.

You need to select and answer four questions from the list of question options provided below.

1.Describe a wicked social problem and explain why the problem exists in contemporary society. Use examples in your answer to demonstrate your understanding of the characteristics of wicked problems. You may select one of the following wicked social problems or identify your own wicked problem – poverty, climate change, homelessness, gender inequality, health disparities, child protection and humanitarian flood disaster relief. If using one of your own wicked problems, please confirm your selection with the Unit Coordinator.

2. Read the case studies provided on the Moodle site for the Portfolio assessment (e.g., adapting cities for climate change). Select one of the case studies and discuss the feasibility, desirability and viability of self-change and social change solutions for a marginalised social group in society.

3. Identify a social change movement (e.g., LGBTQ rights, women’s movement) and briefly discuss the transformation of cultural and social norms for social change through the exercise of individual and collective power.

4. Identify a past or current social issue and explain how re-framing of the problem influences our understanding of it, the dominant discourse, and solution(s).

5. To improve your understanding of social change, select a social change leader (e.g., Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, Nelson Mandela, Elizabeth Broderick, Rosie Batty, Adam Goodes Nevile Bonner, Vincent Lingiari) and reflect on how these leaders practice/practiced social change. For example, you may consider the underpinning principles and leadership skills used to bring about change.

6. From the literature, identify where a human-centred design process has been applied to a social issue in an organisation, community, industry, sector, or government to produce social change. Explain the key principles that underly this process.

Please do not use dot points or numbered lists in your answer. You are encouraged to discuss your ideas and resources with the unit coordinator and others in the Assessment Discussion Forum.

A brief, concisely written answer to the question is more effective than a long, winded general comment. Where appropriate, you should refer to the literature to support your discussion and provide an in-text citation for any sources that you use. If you do use a direct quote, it should only be included if you then comment on what the author has said. If you use a direct quote as part of your discussion it must be indicated as such, and you will need to provide full reference details in APA referencing style.

Please follow the steps below to complete your assessment task:

1. Read the relevant required readings for each week in the e-Reading list and view the weekly topic resources on the Moodle site.
2. Where possible, include in your four answers relevant key concepts and perspectives and present a sociological discussion.
3. Undertake further reading by searching the CQU library and databases for useful references for each of the chosen questions.
4. Draft an outline for each of the four answers before writing your response. Use examples to illustrate your applied understanding.
5. Provide intext citations to support your discussion and add a single reference list at the end of your portfolio.

Literature and references

In this assessment use a minimum of 5 contemporary references (<10 years) to support your discussion. You may use the set readings and seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as from government, university, or peak national bodies.

Requirements

• Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, with 1.5 line spacing and 2.54cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).
• Include page numbers on each page in a header.
• Write in the third-person perspective.
• Use formal academic language.
• Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide.
• The word count is considered from the first word at the start of the portfolio discussion to the last word of the fourth portfolio response. The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations. No abstract or appendices are required for this assignment.

Resources

You can use unit provided materials found in the e-Reading list, and other credible sources (e.g., journal articles, books, grey literature) to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important.

We recommend that you access your discipline specific library guide: the Social Work and Community Services Guide

We recommend you use EndNote to manage your citations and reference list. More information on how to use EndNote is available at the CQUniversity Library website.

For information on academic communication please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources including information for students with English as a second language.

Submit a draft before the due date to review your Turnitin Similarity Score before making a final submission. Instructions are available here.

The marking matrix contains the assessment criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment. You need to refer to the marking rubric when preparing your assessment. You must refer to the marking rubric when preparing your assessment and prior to submission of your assignment to check you have met the assessment requirements.

Re-attempt

In this unit, you may be offered to re-attempt a failed assessment task to demonstrate your achievement of one or more of the unit’s learning outcomes. A re-attempt will only be considered if you have demonstrated a reasonable attempt to complete every part of the assessment task.

If the Unit Coordinator allows you to re-attempt an assessment task, you must resubmit your revised work within seven (7) consecutive days of being notified about the re-attempt opportunity. A re-attempted assessment will receive a mark no greater than the minimum pass mark allowable for the original assessment task.

In a globalised changing world that is being transformed through human interactions and interconnections, social problems are created in the process. Globalisation is only one of several major factors influencing our society. Other factors are increasing technological impact, economic inequality, and pressure from powerful transnational corporations to name a few. Large scale social changes in the form of global megatrends have been identified as future forces that will define social, ecological, and economic sectors of society.

The aim of this assessment is to write an essay using a global megatrend to: 1) explain how the human-centred design process helps solve social problems, and 2) describe some of the positive social and environmental changes individuals can produce.

Use the assigned weekly readings and lectures to help complete this task, along with material from the university library and databases. Further assessment information will be available on the Moodle site to assist you in your assignment preparation.

Instructions

Within this assignment, you will be required to do the following:

Select one of the global megatrends identified by CSIRO researchers and listed below that will impact Australia in the next 10-20 years .For further information go to:

https://algorithm.data61.csiro.au/the-megatrends-that-will-impact-australia-in-the-next-10-20-years/

- More from less

- Altered global and microbial ecosystems

- Emergent economies

- Forever young

- On the move

- Intelligent machines

1. COVER PAGE- include your name, student number, course code and assessment details and word count (mandatory)

2. INTRODUCTION (150 words)

Briefly explain 1) what will be covered in assignment in the sequence it will presented, and 2) the significance of human-centred design and social innovation for social change in response to global megatrends.

3. DISCUSSION (1300 words)

The discussion needs to be supported by readings, examples, and evidence of originality. There are three parts to the discussion.

1.Identify a wicked social problem from the global megatrend you selected and using the literature explain the suitability of using human-centred design as compared to another social change process and theory.

2.Apply the human-centred design process to the social problem to illustrate your understanding and explain how individuals can produce positive social and environmental change with this process.

3.Identify a social innovation and explain how it can provide a solution to the wicked social problem.

4. CONCLUSION (150 words)

Make some final comments to bring the discussion to a close and reflect on the usefulness of human-centred design to produce social change and social innovation.

5. REFERENCES

Literature and references

In this assessment use a minimum of 5 contemporary references (<10 years) to support your discussion. You may use the set readings and seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as from government, university, or peak national bodies.

Requirements

Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, with 1.5 line spacing and 2.54cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).

Include page numbers on each page in a header.

Write in the third-person perspective.

Use formal academic language.

Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide.

The word count is considered from the first word at the start of the portfolio discussion to the last word of the fourth portfolio response. The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations. No abstract or appendices are required for this assignment.

Resources

You can use unit provided materials found in the e-Reading list, and other credible sources (e.g., journal articles, books, grey literature) to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important.

We recommend that you access your discipline specific library guide: the Social Work and Community Services Guide

We recommend you use EndNote to manage your citations and reference list. More information on how to use EndNote is available at the CQUniversity Library website.

For information on academic communication please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources including information for students with English as a second language.

Submit a draft before the due date to review your Turnitin Similarity Score before making a final submission. Instructions are available here.

The marking rubric contains the assessment criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment. You need to refer to the marking rubric when preparing your assessment and prior to submission of your assignment to check you have met the assessment requirements.

Re-attempt

In this unit, you may be offered to re-attempt a failed assessment task to demonstrate your achievement of one or more of the unit’s learning outcomes. A re-attempt will only be considered if you have demonstrated a reasonable attempt to complete every part of the assessment task.

If the Unit Coordinator allows you to re-attempt an assessment task, you must resubmit your revised work within seven (7) consecutive days of being notified about the re-attempt opportunity. A re-attempted assessment will receive a mark no greater than the minimum pass mark allowable for the original assessment task.