Week 1

Summary:

I learned what was expected of me in this class through the orientation, syllabus, and links provided.  After I was fairly certain that I understood these things, I moved on to the icebreaker assignment.  Lastly came the topics of the week which were finding out what social innovation was through videos and links provided to study. 

Response to a video and reading:

Watching the video “Making a change through Social Entrepreneurship” and then reading “The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship” opened my eyes to supporting organizations that are for-profit.  I often support local and national non-profit organizations because they are non-profit.  The idea that someone would make money off of social issues did not feel right at all!  But when the part of the video introduced the idea that for-profits were not only for profit but for society, community, education, environment, and so forth I decided I better watch closely because BYU-Idaho surely would not promote organizations that would take advantage of the underserved.  And I’m honestly glad I did!  It did not take long to put a few things together that I had not considered.  People start businesses all the time to make money and that is socially acceptable.  Why can’t someone with innovative ideas start a “business” that would also serve the community?  Should that not be even more acceptable and even looked up to?

Weekly prompt:  Explain why social innovation is more prevalent today.

I believe social innovation is more prevalent today because of education.  The video I watched, “The Ballard Center: Social Innovation Lives Here” I think is a perfect example of that.  Not just because of the institution/university that it is coming from but from all those brilliant minds coming together to make their ideas even better!  They do this through their education while coming together with other like-minded people who just might have a little something extra to add to the idea.  That is what makes social innovation so much easier today as well as successful.