Shape the future - Teaching Tomorrow's Tech Innovators

Course Description

In a rapidly changing world, graduates must be able to navigate complexity and uncertainty while developing innovative solutions. This course prepares early-career academics (and similar) - who are new to teaching innovation courses - for helping students build the competencies necessary for taking on these challenges.

Over five days, you’ll take part in a two-day innovation sprint, interactive talks, discussions, and reflective activities. Throughout the course, you will apply your insights to design a course or activity* tailored to your own teaching context.

Course Content

During the five-day course you will:

• Explore key aspects of how to teach innovation in a course based on project-based learning
• Participate in a two-day innovation sprint
• Discuss opportunities and challenges in innovation teaching, including supporting student development, teamwork, and creativity
• Design and plan a course or activity* to run at your home institution 

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Define and explain the concept of innovation
2. Define and explain student-centred learning and its application in project-based innovation courses
3. Explain the Double Diamond innovation process, including its phases, methods, and techniques
4. Identify and analyse student characteristics and prior qualifications, and apply this analysis to course design
5. Critically examine personal experiences from an innovation sprint and apply insights to the design of a teaching activity or course
6. Design a course, learning activity or experiment* to support students’ development of knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes, including teamwork and creativity
7. Develop scaffolding strategies to increase students' learning and deal with potential challenges and opportunities
8. Critically evaluate what you have learnt throughout the course, identify key areas for growth, and develop a concrete plan for your continued development as a teacher

* Your take-home design and plan should reflect your own teaching context.
If you already teach innovation, you might redesign an activity or the entire course. If not, you could design a new course from scratch. In short, make it relevant to your situation and goals.

Course Format

The course consists of three components:

1. Online Module (2-4 hours)

• Self-paced and individual
• Introduction to key course topics
• Submission of mini assignment 

2. Onsite Module (5 days)

• Active learning through group work, plenary discussions, and reflection
• Development of your own plan, course design, activity, or teaching experiment
• Two-day Innovation Sprint: team-based experience of the Double Diamond innovation process
• Submission of your reflections and course design or plan

3. Online Follow-Up (Optional)

• A voluntary group session for participants who apply course concepts in their teaching
• Date and time to be determined collaboratively during the onsite module

Preparation

To participate in the onsite module, you first need to complete the online module. Here’s what that involves:

What you’ll do online

• Watch the pre-recorded presentations
• Complete the reflection exercises
• Submit a short mini-assignment
• Fill out a short questionnaire so we can get to know you better

How it works

• After you register - from October 3rd - you’ll be enrolled in the online module on our learning platform. This will generally take a few days.
• Once enrolled, you can start working on the introductory part of the module right away.
• New content will be released weekly, so you can progress step by step.

What happens next

When you’ve completed the entire online module, you’ll receive an invitation to the onsite module in Denmark this November.

How to Pass This Course

To successfully complete the course, you must:

• Complete the online module and submit the mini assignment prior to the onsite module
• Attend the full onsite module (please consider this when booking travel)
• Upload your final course plan and reflection

Who Can Register

This course is intended for early-career academics who:

• Hold an academic faculty position (e.g. assistant professor or equivalent), or a position as a consultant or educational developer at a university within the EU
  AND
• Have teaching responsibilities
  AND
• Are new—or relatively new—to teaching project-based innovation courses
  AND
• Be proficient in English at a working level

Please note:
Our programme is designed for these specific target groups, and we will prioritise applicants who best match this profile. If your profile does not fully match the target group, you are still welcome to apply. We cannot guarantee a place, but we will consider your application if space allows. If we receive more than 24 registrations, priority will be given to those who most closely fit the target group.

Course Fee

The course fee is fully covered by the COPILOT project.
Travel costs are not covered and must be arranged by participants.
Lunch and snacks will be provided by COPILOT. Other meals are not included.

Dates and Location

• Dates: November 24th - 28th, 2025
  
• Location:

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Lyngby Campus
2800 Kgs. Lyngby

Registration

Registration will remain open until all 24 places are filled, or until October 31st, 2025, 23:59 - whichever comes first.

To register, please click on the link the red box located at the top right of the page.

Important: Please register using your official university work email address.
This helps us verify your affiliation and ensure you get access to all course materials. Unfortunately, we can’t accept registrations made with personal email accounts (e.g., Gmail).