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hus2tnk the think tank

THE THINK TANK: SCOPING A POLICY PROJECT

HUS2TNK

Not currently offered

Credit points: 15

This subject addresses La Trobe's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Essential. Innovation and Entrepreneurship is about using your creativity to generate new ideas, understand and solve complex problems and thrive in a fast-changing world.

Subject outline

Employers of graduates want people with demonstrable abilities to conduct research in a comprehensive and open-minded fashion, who can also communicate well, and who can then shape and implement policy. This subject starts to prepare you for this kind of policy work. Students simulate the workplace environment of a social or cultural policy research and development unit, otherwise known as a Think Tank, or of a publisher or other entrepreneurial group. Students practice crafting informed opinions and crisp summaries, linked to realistic policy options. Working individually, and on one task in small teams, students develop the research skills and the broader employability skills needed for graduate careers involving the researching, designing, debating and implementing of public policies. Different instances of this subject may be offered in different disciplines and in combinations of disciplines. This subject also contributes to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Essential.

SchoolSchool of Humanities & Social Sciences

Credit points15

Subject Co-ordinatorTonya Stebbins

Available to Study Abroad StudentsYes

Subject year levelYear Level 2 - UG

Exchange StudentsYes

Subject particulars

Subject rules

Prerequisites All students must have completed the full 120 credit points of the first year of their degree in HuSS, including the first-year degree core subject, HUS1FAS (or its approved equivalent). Students must also have completed the second-year degree core subject, HUS2NGP and at least one other core major subject in the second-year of any discipline in the Humanities and Social Sciences, or else by coordinators approval.

Co-requisitesN/A

Incompatible subjectsN/A

Equivalent subjectsN/A

Special conditions Depending on the themes of the subject, prior to enrolment, students may be required to obtain at their own expense a Working with Children Check.

Graduate capabilities & intended learning outcomes

01. Scoping: with a particular audience explicitly in mind, students are supported in researching situations, opinions and the scholarly literature on a policy, topic or issue in ways in order not only to explain its complexity and significance, but also to sketch options for action.

Activities:
1. Proposal and Elevator Pitch 2. Collaboration to Refine and Define Options 3. Research report and Job application 4. Weekly seminar
Related graduate capabilities and elements:
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)

02. Presenting and advocating with relevance and impact: students are supported to frame two different in-class presentations, one individual, another in a group, on an aspect or aspects of the problems, patterns, options or solutions with respect to a policy, topic or issue.

Activities:
1. Proposal and Elevator Pitch 2. Collaboration to Refine and Define Options 4. Weekly seminar
Related graduate capabilities and elements:
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)

03. Researching: in addressing an authentic policy, topic or issue, students are supported in finding and interrogating sources, and reviewing the literature.

Activities:
1. Proposal and Elevator Pitch 2. Collaboration to Refine and Define Options 3. Research report and Job application 4. Weekly seminar
Related graduate capabilities and elements:
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)

04. Writing up: in compiling a comprehensive final research report on an aspect of a policy, topic or issue, students are supported individually in re-considering and re-researching after obtaining feedback from their prior work of Scoping and of Presenting and Advocating (SILOs 1 & 3), takes which culminate in the kind of formal application to implement the task usual in that sector.

Activities:
3. Research report and Job application
Related graduate capabilities and elements:
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Literacies and Communication Skills(Writing,Speaking,Quantitative Literacy,Cultural Literacy)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Inquiry and Analytical Skills(Critical Thinking,Creative Problem-solving,Inquiry/Research)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Personal and Professional Skills(Teamwork including leadership and working in groups,Autonomy and independence,Ethical behaviour,Adaptability Skills,Study and Learning Skills)
Discipline -Specific Knowledge and Skills(Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills)

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