World’s Greatest Challenges: Building Interdisciplinary Understanding and Collaboration among Business and Social Work Students

Abstract

Socially engaged students cross all disciplines. Today’s complex and rapidly changing environment poses new challenges for practitioners, students, and educators working within and alongside post-secondary institutions. This research explores how business and social work students interpret and perceive the world’s greatest challenges. Eighty-four students participated in the mixed methods study wherein a workshop was delivered to two social innovation and two social work classes. The workshops provided a forum for students to explore their perspectives on the world’s greatest challenges individually and as part of a group. Differences and similarities are reported regarding student perspectives of the world in which they live. The results reinforce a change in student mindset requiring significant shifts in the development and delivery of social impact curriculum and pedagogy related to creating shared value, social innovation, and changemaking.