Singapore University of Social Sciences

Cross boundary work seeks to address complex problems working across the boundaries of a profession and an organisation. Such work is rich in learning and opportunities for driving innovation. This kind of work fosters professionals’ need to be able to label their own expertise; recognise, draw on and contribute to expertise beyond their own profession, demonstrating a strong sense of their own professional identity whose actions can make a difference in the world. In this course, learners will take a hard look at common and personally held assumptions about innovation and change and what it means for learning. They will be introduced to socio-cultural perspectives such as relational agency, cultural historical activity theory and socio-material theoretical stances that pose deeper, wider questions about learning, innovation and change. Theoretical framing of an ecosystem approach will be employed to interpret the complex relations and interactions in the ecosystems they are a part of. Through using inquiry processes they will become knowledgeable about the strategic role and the workings of selected ecosystems relevant to their organisation, and examine instances of learning in cross boundary work that builds expertise and/or limits transformation of practice.