Performance objective

You must demonstrate knowledge of design requirements for workspaces that support innovation and work with a team to redesign a workspace.

Assessment description

You may have found that you encountered a barrier to innovation in the previous assessment task, namely, the physical environment.
A critical factor for enabling innovation is the design of workspaces.

Innovative workspaces typically include:

- collaborative spaces
- social areas
- inspirational features (designs, interesting objects, posters).

And you don't need to build the Googleplex in order to foster innovation.

Many improvements can be achieved on low/no budgets with simple reorganisation of workspaces.

In this assessment, you will work with a team to redesign a workspace so that it can support innovation activities more effectively. You will then present your findings to your fellow learners.

Procedure

1. Confirm a workspace with your assessor. It is suggested that you complete this task in the same business as Assessment Task 2; but you can use any place where groups of people work, including your place of learning.

2. Form a project team of three people (yourself and two stakeholders that use the workspace) that you will work with for the duration of this task.

3. With your project team, confirm a profile of the organisation in which the workspace is located; including:
 a description of the workspace
 a brief organisational profile
 organisational goals and objectives
 why innovation is important for this organisation.

4. Develop evaluation criteria. With your project team, brainstorm a list of at least five design points that foster innovation in a workspace. You can record the list on the attached workspace evaluation form.

5. Evaluate the workspace. With your project team, identify any physical challenges and barriers to innovation presented by the workspace and evaluate the chosen workspace against the criteria developed in Step 3 using a rating system (again, you can use the attached workspace evaluation as a starting point).

6. Identify solutions. With your project team,brainstormsolutions as a group that will address deficiencies in design points identified in your evaluation.Be sure to record:
 the rationale for each solution
 any inspiration/sources for these solutions (you can cite inspirations from the internet, magazines, site visits, etc.)
 any external assistance required to implement the solutions
 approximate costs
 sketches of the proposed changes (these may be hand-drawn sketches, computer-generated diagrams, photos or videos).

7. Presentyour findingsduring the scheduled session time. Your presentation:
 should be of around 10 minutes in length
 must be delivered using presentation slides
 might include handouts, posters or other print-based aids.

Specifications
You mustprovide:
- a presentation of around ten minutes in length outlining the findings and outcomes of steps 3-¬6 of the above procedure
- a copy of any material used to aid your presentation
- copies of any notes, sketches, photos and other papers or files generated throughout the course of your collaboration on the workspace redesign
- your completed workspace evaluation form.

Your assessor will be looking for:
- use of clear language appropriate to the audience to promote and share information, requirements and recommendations relating to the workplace redesign
- presentation of ideas and concepts using structure and language to suit the audience
- alignment of ideas for workspace changesto workplace goals and objectives
- collaboration and sharing of ideas with the project team
- an understanding of how the physical working environment could be modified to support creative thinking and innovation activities
- identification of physical challenges and barriers to innovation present in a chosen work space.
Adjustment for distance-based learners:

The presentation can be adjusted for distance learning. The presentation for this task can be varied to take place on Skype conference (or any other video conferencing tool available to the learner). Additionally:
- The project team or group does not need to be fellow students but can be comprised of friends, family, local club members, workmates, and so on.
- The candidate should be encouraged to allow video (if using Skype) so that others can see them while they are presenting.
- The candidate should email presentation material (PowerPoint slides) to the assessor prior to the presentation.
- A follow up interview may be required (at the discretion of the assessor).
- Evidence can be submitted electronically or posted in the mail.

Option 1: Assessor as observer
The assessor can ‘observe' the learner conducting the presentation via a video conferencing tool.
Procedure:
- Meet with the assessor on Skype at the scheduled time and conduct the presentation.
- The learner is to present their advertising pitch with the assessor observing.
- Supplementary information or a follow up interview may be required (at the discretion of the assessor).

Option 2: Video the presentation
The presentation may involve skills that are too active or complex for video conferencing. This might involve skills or demonstrations of complex tasks.

In these cases, the learner may be able to video the presentation and send it to the assessor.