The SoCIETIE Initiative

What we are SoCIETIE Initiative

Social Change Impact — the ANU elective where you learn by doing something real with people outside the university.

More about this on the site →
What we are Social

Change happens between people, not to them.

More about this on the site →
What we are Change

Something should be different because you were here.

More about this on the site →
What we are Impact

Measured by what it did for someone else, not by what it cost you.

More about this on the site →
What we are Engagement

You turn up, and you keep turning up.

More about this on the site →
What we are Transformation

The person who finishes is not the person who started.

More about this on the site →
What we are Inclusion

Every degree, every year, every background — the door is the same width.

More about this on the site →
What we are Equity

Not everyone needs the same thing to get the same chance.

More about this on the site →
Your course code AATD1001

First-year entry. Any degree, 6 units, no prerequisites.

  • Completed fewer than 24 units
More about this on the site →
Your course code AATD2001

The continuing-undergraduate code. Any degree, 6 units.

  • Completed 24–72 units
More about this on the site →
Your course code AATD3001

Later-stage undergraduates, usually leading a project.

  • Completed 72 units or more
More about this on the site →
Your course code AATD6001

Postgraduate coursework students, applying existing expertise.

  • Postgraduate coursework students
More about this on the site →
Your course code LAWS4001

Unravelling Complexity. The one code that is graded on the conventional HD/D/CR/P scheme — every AATD code is Course Requirements Satisfied.

  • ALLB students
  • Taken as an Honours elective
More about this on the site →
Your course code Certificate

Skills for Social Change Certificate — the same KNoTs, without the credit.

  • No course code
  • No degree space used
More about this on the site →
When you study Semester 1

The full teaching rhythm — a timetabled KNoT schedule with projects alongside it.

  • A timetabled schedule of KNoTs
  • Supported projects alongside
More about this on the site →
When you study Semester 2

The full teaching rhythm — a timetabled KNoT schedule with projects alongside it.

  • A timetabled schedule of KNoTs
  • Supported projects alongside
More about this on the site →
When you study Summer

A project-led session. You work at your own pace and pick up KNoTs as Semester 1 starts.

  • January–March
  • Independent projects
  • Overlaps the Semester 1 KNoTs
More about this on the site →
When you study Autumn

A project-led session running inside Semester 1's KNoT schedule.

  • April–June
  • Independent projects
  • Overlaps the Semester 1 KNoTs
More about this on the site →
When you study Winter

A project-led session running into Semester 2's KNoT schedule.

  • July–September
  • Independent projects
  • Overlaps the Semester 2 KNoTs
More about this on the site →
When you study Spring

A project-led session, the last entry point of the year.

  • October–December
  • Independent projects
  • Overlaps the Semester 2 KNoTs
More about this on the site →
Your pathway Project Pathway

Weight on the project. You go deep with one partner and take the KNoTs that project needs.

  • 80+ hours on the project
  • 5+ KNoTs
More about this on the site →
Your pathway Skills Pathway

Weight on the workshops. You build breadth across the KNoT catalogue and run a smaller project.

  • 40+ hours on the project
  • 10+ KNoTs
More about this on the site →
Your pathway Flexible Pathway

Neither shape fits, so you propose your own balance in the Course Pathway Plan and we agree it with you.

  • 20–100 hours on the project
  • An equivalent balance in KNoTs
More about this on the site →
The project you do Partner Projects

Scoped with an Institute partner and advertised for you to join.

  • Advertised projects
  • Run with Institute partners
More about this on the site →
The project you do Community Projects

Your own work in the community, registered through the Course Pathway Plan.

  • Projects students bring from their own community
More about this on the site →
The project you do Student Initiatives

Student-led and longer-lived than one enrolment — you join a cycle already running.

  • Multi-year student-led project cycles
More about this on the site →
The project you do Global Programs

The project happens somewhere else, with partners there.

  • In-country project-based learning
More about this on the site →
The project you do Living Lab

The campus itself is the testbed — ANU's own operations as the problem.

  • Ongoing collaborative projects
  • Facilitated during semester
More about this on the site →
The project you do Team Challenges

A fixed problem, a mixed team and a deadline measured in days.

  • Short sprints on a set problem
  • Against the clock
More about this on the site →
The KNoTs you attend SoCIETIE KNoTs

The core workshops, run by the Institute and timetabled like any class.

  • A morning or afternoon workshop
  • Timetabled like any class
More about this on the site →
The KNoTs you attend Campus KNoTs

Things already happening on campus that count — capped at one in four, so they supplement the core rather than replace it.

  • Campus events that align to learning goals
  • Capped at one in four KNoTs
More about this on the site →
The KNoTs you attend Partner KNoTs

Run with the organisations you might end up working alongside.

  • Delivered in collaboration with partners
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Course Pathway Plan

A hurdle, weighted 0%. You must do it, it carries no marks, and nothing else starts until it is agreed.

  • Declare and agree your pathway
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Completion Evidence

Your record of the KNoTs you attended and what you took from them.

  • Show that you completed the plan
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Shareable Artefact

The one that has to leave the building. Any form — written, spoken, built, performed — as long as someone outside can use it.

  • A critical or creative piece
  • Based around SoCIETIE
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Update your Plan

The same submission again, not a new one. A SoCIETIE Fellow reads it and follows up only if something needs it.

  • Optional — resubmit whenever your plan changes
  • The Milestone Check-In is the natural point
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Shareable Artefact Plan

What the artefact is, who it is for and what form it takes — early enough that the feedback can still change it.

  • Optional — scope it before you commit
  • Feedback comes back specific
More about this on the site →
What you hand in Show and Share

A short talk about the artefact, to someone outside your discipline. Bring the thing itself, or a prototype, outline, storyboard or poster.

  • About sixty seconds, to peers and guests
  • Final, nearly final or a work in progress
More about this on the site →

How we teach

Eighteen learning principles, in four families — every one of them turns over

How we work with learners We meet students where they are at
We're assuming
The right time to take the course differs for every student. Learners arrive with very different change-making experience from different disciplines.
For example
A first-year student may already be leading change, while a final-year student may never have considered it. The course accommodates both rather than assuming a fixed starting point.
By design
  • Open to every year level through AATD1001, AATD2001 and AATD3001, with LAWS4001 and AATD6001 variants and not-for-credit pathways
  • Offered every session — Semester 1, Semester 2 and intensives
How we work with learners We trust students to do their best work
We're assuming
Students with clear intrinsic motivation can be trusted to do great work without the pressure of marks.
For example
In practice, this means we don't police attendance, demand evidence for an extension, or make you earn the benefit of the doubt. We take your word and your work in good faith. We find that trust is almost always repaid.
By design
  • A self-designed pathway and flexible submission windows — communication matters more than the deadline
How we work with learners Students design their own journey
We're assuming
Students learn best when they shape their own path toward their own goals.
For example
Rather than following a fixed syllabus, students plan the KNoTs and project hours that fit their aspirations. Plans are allowed to evolve along the way.
By design
  • Skills, Project and Flexible pathways
  • The Course Pathway Plan tailors the journey to each student
  • “Plans are made to be broken”
How we work with learners Students set their own pace and goals
We're assuming
Students work better toward milestones they set themselves than deadlines imposed on them. Course deadlines exist for coordination, not for learning.
For example
Deadlines in SoCIETIE are coordination points, not tests of compliance — you plan your own milestones around your project and your semester. And when your pace changes, telling us what's going on is a skill we teach, not a failure we punish.
By design
  • Submission windows rather than hard deadlines
  • Milestones are planned in the Course Pathway Plan, and re-planned as the semester moves
How we work with learners We grow learners — we don't judge them
We're assuming
Learning is developmental, and it is best supported by feedback. A single number can't capture the outcomes of transdisciplinary work.
For example
We assess the whole, not the sum: your final grade is not simply one assignment added to the next. Feedback and revision are what develop your thinking.
By design
  • CRS Completion Grade
  • Qualitative indicators — Complete with/without Revision
  • Completion is holistic, not additive, and resubmission is built in
How we learn together We learn in relationship, not in isolation
We're assuming
Knowledge is co-constructed. Ideas matter, and they are valued in relationship with others.
For example
Learning happens with peers, educators and the real world. Ideas are built between people, not handed down or worked out alone.
By design
  • Interactive KNoT workshops and collaborative projects
  • Peer discussion of plans and artefacts is encouraged
How we learn together We celebrate collaboration, not competition
We're assuming
Sharing and celebrating work motivates and validates students in a professional context, rather than scoring and ranking.
For example
The Show and Share celebrates learning rather than staging a contest. Students share their experiences rather than compete for grades.
By design
  • All projects are collaborative in nature
  • A public-facing Shareable Artefact is the final task
How we learn together We work across difference, not just alongside it
We're assuming
Difference is a resource, not an obstacle, when people take the time to understand each other.
For example
We intentionally design environments where people with different points of view, knowledge bases and expertise build genuine understanding of each other. That is different from multidisciplinary co-location, where people are simply put in a room together and left to chance.
By design
  • KNoTs draw students from across the university into one room
  • Partners bring non-academic expertise into the conversation
How we learn together The course has multiple custodians and stakeholders.
We're assuming
Students belong to the whole learning community, not to individual academics.
For example
Teaching is distributed: many experts each contribute their topic and share responsibility for the cohort. No one academic “owns” a class of their students — the tent is wide enough for many voices.
By design
  • Many experts each contribute to the design and delivery rather than one academic teaching everything
  • Fellows share feedback and support across the whole cohort
The nature of the work There are no single right answers
We're assuming
Complex transdisciplinary problems have many valid solutions, so assessing work against a single “correct” answer is invalid.
For example
Wicked problems need multiple perspectives. We assess how you think and work with ideas, not whether you matched an answer key.
By design
  • A valuation structure built on the “no right answers” philosophy
  • Qualitative descriptors from Satisfactory to Exceptional, based on the SOLO and Bloom taxonomies
The nature of the work We learn by doing real work that matters
We're assuming
Applying skills to make real-world impact deepens learning more than any simulated task could.
For example
The Project applies the skills you build in KNoTs to create real impact on campus and in the community.
By design
  • A required Project with a Partner or Community
  • Typically, 40 to 80-plus hours of project work
The nature of the work Risk-taking and “failure” are part of learning
We're assuming
Exploration requires the safety to try uncertain approaches without penalty.
For example
If we scored and ranked your work immediately, it would discourage exploration. We want you to take risks.
By design
  • Revise-and-resubmit, with no marks during the semester
  • The safe-space principle
The nature of the work We make work for real audiences
We're assuming
Work made for a real audience — a partner, the public — calls out more care than work made only for an assessor. And students rise to a clear, high standard when they are supported to reach it.
For example
Project outcomes go to community partners, the Show and Share is open, and work lives on the website beyond the semester. That's why the bar is high: “Course Requirements Satisfied” isn't a pass at 50 per cent — we expect work at Distinction level and above, and we help you get there through feedback, not gatekeeping.
By design
  • Course Requirements Satisfied is set at Distinction level, with transparent descriptors and verbs from the SOLO and Bloom taxonomies
  • Hurdle tasks, revise-and-resubmit to the standard, and feedback from Fellows
  • Project outcomes are delivered to partners, and work is published on the website
The nature of the work Reflection turns experience into learning
We're assuming
Metacognition — thinking about thinking — is where durable learning consolidates.
For example
Reflection draws a thread through the whole course and, at the end, ties the knot. We build it on Kolb's learning cycle: think, do, feel and watch.
By design
  • Reflection in the KNoT Completion Evidence — 250 to 500 words per KNoT, plus holistic and journey reflections
  • Kolb's cycle frames the reflection
  • A rationale accompanies the Shareable Artefact
How we connect We build the skills to make change happen
We're assuming
Making change is a learnable, transferable craft that crosses disciplines — not an innate talent, and not the property of any one field.
For example
Every KNoT names the skills it develops — systems thinking, facilitation, theory of change — and the Project is where you combine them. They go with you into any discipline, workplace or cause.
By design
  • Every KNoT names the skills it develops, from a shared vocabulary of 29 terms
  • Skills appear on KNoT and class pages, so a pathway can be planned skill-first
  • The Project is where the skills combine
How we connect The whole university is a place of learning
We're assuming
Universities serve to make students think. Valuable learning exists everywhere across the university and its partners, not just in one course's classes.
For example
Students carry an all-access pass to the whole university. KNoTs are flexible building blocks that you assemble by interest.
By design
  • Campus KNoTs alongside SoCIETIE KNoTs — up to one in every four
  • KNoTs can be combined or split
  • Learning from across the whole university counts
How we connect We build many-sided partnerships
We're assuming
Partnerships work best when they run in more than one direction; a partner that only receives student work is a client, not a collaborator.
For example
The same partner might teach into a KNoT, host a Project, bring a problem to the Show and Share and hire a graduate — each connection strengthens the others, and the Institute is where they meet.
By design
  • Partners host Projects, teach into KNoTs and bring real problems
  • The Show and Share puts partners and students in the same room
  • The same organisation can appear in several roles at once
How we connect We learn at a human scale
We're assuming
Genuine understanding between educator and student needs small numbers. Scale comes from repeating small formats and offering different pathways, not from letting classes grow.
For example
Classes stay small enough to hear from every student, understand their point of view and get to know them. We scale by multiplying human-scale contexts: many experts each teaching small, rather than one class growing large.
By design
  • Classes stay small enough to hear from everyone
  • KNoTs are repeated across sessions rather than enlarged
  • Many experts each teach small groups, rather than one class growing large
A family of principles How we work with learners
What connects them
Every learner arrives capable, at a different point and with their own reasons for being here. So we meet them where they are, trust them with their own journey, pace and goals, and give feedback that grows them rather than marks that rank them.
The principles
  • We meet students where they are at
  • We trust students to do their best work
  • Students design their own journey
  • Students set their own pace and goals
  • We grow learners — we don't judge them
A family of principles How we learn together
What connects them
Change is made with other people, so learning is too. We learn in relationship, collaborate rather than compete, work across difference rather than around it, and share the course among the many people who teach into it and care about it.
The principles
  • We learn in relationship, not in isolation
  • We celebrate collaboration, not competition
  • We work across difference, not just alongside it
  • The course has multiple custodians and stakeholders.
A family of principles The nature of the work
What connects them
Real problems have no answer sheet. Students take on authentic projects for real audiences, are free to take risks and fall forward, and reflect on what happened so that experience becomes learning.
The principles
  • There are no single right answers
  • We learn by doing real work that matters
  • Risk-taking and “failure” are part of learning
  • We make work for real audiences
  • Reflection turns experience into learning
A family of principles How we connect
What connects them
The course connects outward without losing its human scale. The skills it teaches travel across disciplines, the whole university counts as a place to learn, partners join in more than one role, and we grow by repeating small formats rather than enlarging them.
The principles
  • We build the skills to make change happen
  • The whole university is a place of learning
  • We build many-sided partnerships
  • We learn at a human scale