Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

In this module students will work in groups to examine case studies to understand the core principles and challenges of Responsible Innovation. Viewed from the critical lens of responsibility in innovation, students will learn to navigate ethical dilemmas, legal dimensions, and social issues including environmental impacts of emerging technologies such as AI. By engaging with standardised frameworks, students will be able to apply the core principles of responsible innovation in practice.

This module is designed to challenge students’ ability to handle unexpected situations while working on similar cases in the workplace. Students will learn about negotiating with internal and external stakeholders within an organisation, writing professional reports, and delivering presentations directed at influential members in an organisation.

The case studies considered in this module will touch on a broad range of skills, knowledge, and behaviours for digital and technology solutions specialists, informed by the current trends in industry and research.

Groups will aim to include students from mixed technical and organisational backgrounds, to expose students to different perspectives on their approach.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module will cover:

• Defining responsible innovation.
• Critiquing Case Studies on the core foundations of responsible AI.
• Ability to discuss and present critical arguments on the ethical, legal, and social issues of responsible
innovation.
• Frameworks for responsible innovation.
• Designing for responsible and sustainable innovation.
• Lessons learned from controversies and legal implications in digital innovation.
• Interdisciplinary approaches to responsible innovation.
• Writing professional Business Reports.
• Applying persuasive writing skills on complex content intended for diverse stakeholders.
• Applying negotiation skills.
• Demonstrating presentation skills.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Apprentices will be able to:

• Explain what is responsible innovation and its importance in the context of emerging technologies.
• Discuss and analyse the principles underlying responsible innovation.
• Discuss and apply the information governance requirements that exist in the UK, and the relevant
organisational and legislative, data protection and data security standards that exist.
• Understand how to identify ethical challenges and resolve ethical dilemmas.
• Reason about own employers’ business objectives and strategy, its position in the market and how own employer
adds value to its clients through the services and/or products they provide.
• Monitor technology related market trends and research and collect competitive intelligence.
• Understand technology road-mapping concepts and methods and how to apply them.

Degree Apprenticeship standard:
K10 The role of learning and talent management in successful business operations.
K8 The role of leaders as change agents and identify contributors to successful implementation. K6 How to monitor technology related market trends and research and collect competitive intelligence.
K9 Technology road-mapping concepts and methods and how to apply them.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Apprentices will be able to:

• Apply legal and ethical frameworks for responsible technology development and evaluation.
• Assess social implications of emerging technologies in the context of sustainable environmental practices.
• Design digital innovation strategies incorporating ethical, legal, and social dimensions.
• Identify, document, review and design complex IT enabled business processes that define a set of activities
that will accomplish specific organisational goals and provides a systematic approach to improving processes.
• Develop and deliver management level presentations which resonate with senior stakeholders, both business and
technical.
• Professionally present digital and technology solution specialism plans and solutions in a well- structured
business report.
• Be competent at negotiating and closing techniques in a range of interactions and engagements, both with
senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Develop own leadership style and professional values that contribute to building high performance teams.
• Inspire and motivate others to deliver excellent technical solutions and outcomes.
• Develop and support others in developing an appropriate balance of leadership and technical skills.

Degree Apprenticeship standard:
S1 Identify, document, review and design complex IT enabled business processes that define a set of activities
that will accomplish specific organisational goals and provides a systematic approach to improving those
processes.
S6 Professionally present digital and technology solution specialism plans and solutions in a well-structured
business report.
S7 Demonstrate self-direction and originality in solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and
implementing digital and technology solutions specialist tasks at a professional level.
S8 Be competent at negotiating and closing techniques in a range of interactions and engagements, both with
senior internal and external stakeholders.
S9 Evaluate the significance of human factors to leadership in the effective implementation and management of
technology enabled business processes.
S10 Develop own leadership style and professional values that contributes to building high performing teams.
S11 Apply broader technical knowledge combined with an understanding of the business context, and how it is
changing, to deliver to the company’s business strategy.
S13 Create and implement innovative technological strategies to support the development of new products,
processes and services that align with the company’s business strategy, and develop and communicate
compelling business proposals to support these.

Degree Apprenticeship standard behaviours:

B1 Inspire and motivate others to deliver excellent technical solutions and outcomes.
B3 Be results and outcomes driven to achieve high key performance outcomes for digital and technology solutions
objectives.
B4 Promote a high level of cooperation between own work group and other groups to establish a technology change
led culture.
B5 Develop and support others in developing an appropriate balance of leadership and
technical skills.
B6 Create strong positive relationships with team members to produce high performing technical teams.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This module will give students an opportunity to think beyond their technical focus by collaborating with other specialists to critique and analyse case studies. Students will need to research, apply their negotiation and persuasion skills, and produce a business plan, report, and presentation. Typically learners transfer their learnings into their own work place through sampling and preparation of cases that they might not already be exposed to in their workplace. They will need to reflect individually on the case as well as in a group, and present approaches while building on their own experiences, and consider how this process might translate into their workplace.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The aim of this module is to help apprentices practice persuasion and negotiation with different levels of stakeholders and learn how to respond to unexpected situations in the workplace based on their area of expertise. To do this, they will work in mixed groups to discuss cases from different professional perspectives as well as work together to practice presenting their recommendations to stakeholders (colleagues in the module) for buy-in and feedback. These formative activities are safe spaces to try new approaches within the university, before transferring learning into the workplace.

General Notes

N/A