Changemaking and social innovation in teaching

Changemaking and socially innovative teaching are aimed at helping students gain the knowledge, skills and mindsets that will allow them to create positive change in their communities. In order to determine how to make change, students first need to be equipped to identify where problems exist and determine where inequities and injustices lie.

Given that students surveyed in 2010 had declined in their ability to empathize by an estimated 40 per cent from their counterparts 20 to 30 years previously (Konrath, 2010), something needs to change. The cornerstones of changemaking include the following pillars:

1. Conscious empathy
2. Collaborative teamwork
3. Shared leadership
4. Practising changemaking

• For more information on how you can embed changemaking, social innovation or social entrepreneurship into your courses, check out the links and the content available in our Changemaking and Social Innovation Microsoft Teams channel.
• For pedagogy support and ideas, contact Tracy Mitchell-Ashley.
• For a list of campus activities and changemaking tools you might engage with, you can reach out to the Centre for Changemaking an Social Innovation.

The Focus on Changemaking (FoCH) event was held on 20 Nov. 2024. We would like to thank all of the attendees for joining us to explore innovative pedagogies that support students in developing skills like empathy, teamwork, and new leadership, as well as offering students opportunities to practice changemaking.

We have immense gratitude for all of our presenters and Change Talkers for sharing their gifts of knowledge and experience. Your stories are truly inspiring. Through our work, we change lives every day, and we prepare students to do the same. It was wonderful to celebrate that together!

• You can access resources shared during the FoCH here.
• Check out Good Changemaking Reads here.

#ChangeTheNow (#CTN) started in 2018 as a region-wide changemaking movement. Under the direction of Social Innovation (SI), and as part of the Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RIE) department at Georgian College, #CTN is an experiential learning opportunity and social movement based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). #CTN was created on the belief that small acts can lead to big change and collaborations can turn into largescale movements.

Together students, educators, industry and community can come together to innovate and spark ideas that can create system shifts that will make our communities greener, healthier, safer, stronger and more inclusive! 

#ChangeTheNow specializes in: changemaking, social innovation, experiential and work integrated learning (EL/WIL), employability skills, community development, and global citizenship.

The Changemaking/Social Innovation Community of Practice Microsoft Teams channel is focused on exploring ways to embed and scale changemaking and social innovation in our classes and across our institution in order to support students as they acquire skills, attitudes and mindsets suited to the 21^st century including empathy, resilience, teamwork and collaboration, systems thinking, new forms of leadership and a global mindset.

Through the Microsoft Teams channel, we hope to create and curate resources to and share best practices for incorporating more effective outcomes into our courses. We will work to discover alternative assignments that will engage our students and see how the language of changemaking can relate to our classes.

Manifesting as a Changemaker Model

This toolkit presents the Manifesting as a Changemaker Model, focusing on building students’ capacities in empathy, teamwork, leadership, and changemaking. Read this book to explore tools and resources to help you inspire and grow changemakers.

The Manifesting As A Changemaker Model helps illuminate the cyclical tendency of human nature to approach each skill and mindset with varying entry points depending on the situational context

Authors: Tracy Mitchell-Ashley; Isabelle Deschamps; Christopher Michael; Dr. Sarah Hunter; Dale B; and Sarah Driessens

An Educator’s Guide to Inspiring Young Changemakers

Dive Into Your Free Toolkit Today

We’re thrilled to see so many Canadian educators and youth leaders downloading the newly launched Time For Change Canada: An Introductory Guide for Educators! We can’t wait to hear how you’re introducing the concept of changemaking in your classrooms.

Ready for the next step? Get ready to inspire! When students learn from their peers about what’s possible, it empowers them to take bold action for change. Download An Educator’s Guide to Inspiring Young Changemakers today and share stories of young changemakers from around the world with your students. Perhaps there’s someone in your class already making great strides—discover how to champion their efforts!

This guide will help you cultivate an environment where your students believe they can be changemakers, see themselves as powerful, and identify ways to make a difference in their classrooms, schools, and communities.