Social Innovations and Community Engagement: A Proposed Model of Mobile Learning Applications

This paper discusses the conceptual meaning of social innovation and how it affects community engagement. It proposes a model of mobile learning applications for increasing literacy rates and analyzes its market condition and challenges in implementation.

Running head: SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Social Innovations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Executive Summary:
The social innovation is observed to have a significant effect on the community engagement
and in the growth of the community. The paper here discusses the conceptual meaning of the
social innovation and along with that the paper also discusses how the community
engagement theories get influenced by the social innovation. The paper describes one
example of the social innovation and how it affects the society. The paper also analyses the
market condition for the implementation of the social innovation example and evaluates the
challenges in the implementation of the new proposed concept.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Social Innovation and the Community Engagement:.................................................................3
Proposed Model of Social Innovation:.......................................................................................4
Situational Analysis:..................................................................................................................5
Strength:.................................................................................................................................5
Weakness:..............................................................................................................................6
Opportunities:.........................................................................................................................6
Threats:...................................................................................................................................6
Political/Legal:.......................................................................................................................7
Economic:..............................................................................................................................7
Social:.....................................................................................................................................8
Technological:........................................................................................................................8
Environmental:.......................................................................................................................8
Overview and Challenges in Implementation:...........................................................................8
Challenges:.............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
The concept of the social innovation generates from the interest of meeting the social
needs that is generated from the community development, health or education. The social
innovations are generally the new ideas, concepts and strategies that are for the betterment of
the society (Cajaiba-Santana 2014).According to Moulaert (2016), the general objective of
the social innovation is to unite the society and increase the strength of the society. The
objective of the paper is to focus on the shape of the innovation and how the innovation will
influence the society with precise focus on the organization Pure learning. The purpose of the
paper is to evaluate the impact of the social innovation on the growth of the community and
the engagement of the community. The paper will also discuss about a proposed example of
the social innovation and the impact of the example in the society. Along with that the paper
will also analyse the example by the analytical tools like SWOT and PESEL and will discuss
the challenges in the implementation as well.
Social Innovation and the Community Engagement:
As mentioned above the social innovation will generally focus on contributing the
society. According to the study of Moulaert, MacCallum and Hillier (2013), the impact of the
social innovation will be highly influential for the society as the contribution that the new
idea or the strategy is making, will be immense for the people of the society. Manzini (2014)
claimed that the general social innovations will have a structure of deploying unique
solutions to the emerging social and environmental issues of the current generation and in
doing so it will develop the society in a unique way. It is also believed that the social
innovation focuses the attention on the strategies or the ideas that are observed to produce the
social values (Osburg 2013). Along with the concept of social innovation, the drivers for the
social innovation can also be described as exchanging the ideas and the values, the shifting in

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the roles and relationship and the integration of the private capital with the public and
philanthropic backing. The social innovation has a unique way to integrate people and that is
significantly visible with the formation of the community and the engagement between the
people inside the community groups. The success in engaging the people inside the
community completely depends on the idea or the strategy that composes the innovation
(Maclean, Harvey and Gordon 2013). Usually it is seen that the benefits of a particular social
innovation concept is instrumental in engaging the people and along with that the impact of a
particular social innovation is observed to influence the people in a great deal. This helps in
increasing the social cohesion between the residents of that region in a significant manner
which is necessary for the society in order to fight against the evil parts. The formation of the
community from the social innovation helps in collaboration and co-production with the
various other factors of the society (Voorberg, Bekkers and Tummers 2015).
Proposed Model of Social Innovation:
The proposed model of the social innovation will be the formation of the mobile
learning applications for increasing the literacy rates. The mobile being an electronic gadget
is significantly influential for the kids of this generation (Berge and Muilenburg 2013).
Several surveys are able to portray the statistics that the school students or the children of this
generation are taking the classroom lectures in a not so convenient way. Whereas the students
are observed to get significantly influenced to the lectures presented in the digital form
specifically in the form of mobile applications. The increased range of graphics and the
animations presented in the lectures of the mobile applications are observed to attract the
attention of the students in a significant manner. Over the years the familiarization of the
students with the mobile device created a certain space of attachment between the two and
the not so interesting educational lectures had the limitations to reach the student in the
traditional method (Chen and Denoyelles 2013). This was a significant opportunity for

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technology industry in order to create a solution which will have notable impact on the
students. As the concerned rates of literacy is a major concern for the governments along with
the lack of interest of the students on the traditional conceptual reading from the books, the
introduction of the learning applications was just a matter of time.
But in the context of the above mentioned organization, the introduction of the mobile
learning application will be significant as the organization did not take part in any sort of
formation of the mobile application for the conduction of their teaching procedure. The
organization controls their teaching procedure by means of their website. Now in case of the
mobile application, the students will find it easy to gather all sort of educational videos from
a single portal without too much internet browsing. Apart from this one of the major
detrimental factors in smooth learning is the presence of external interruptions and in the
browsing of the website of the mentioned organization, students may get deflected to some
other website which may or may not be appropriate for them. The formation of the
application becomes necessary in order to eliminate these threats as the sole objective of the
organization is to increase the knowledge of the students.
According to Vázquez-Cano (2014), the general advantages of using the learning
mobile applications will be significant as it will reduce the barriers of fixed timing for taking
the educational lessons as the online video classes will be present for the students to access
any time. The high standard graphics and the three dimensional concepts of different
mathematical expressions and elements make it incredibly easy for the students to get the
lessons. Several surveys have confirmed that the students will be significantly attracted to the
lessons with the higher degree graphical interpretations. This will also increase their ability to
gather information from various sources regarding a particular topic. The concerned method
of learning will enable the students to have a significantly high reduction in the
communication gap between them and the teachers and that will be crucial as the confusion

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regarding a topic that a particular student never came across will be there at times. The online
availability will help the students to get updated about the current information as it had been
seen that the conventional books tend to belong to some previous years and the information
in them may or may not be the current information (Mehdipour and Zerehkafi 2013). Hence
the students can be deprived of the actual and present-day information in the traditional
learning methods which can be countered with the online medium as the lectures will be real
time.
Situational Analysis:
The appropriateness of the mentioned social innovation example can be assessed
better with the SWOT analysis.
Strength:
As mentioned earlier the mobility of the learning applications will be a significant
boost in the application. Along with it, the 24/7 accessibility of the mobile applications will
helpful as well for the students in order to overcome the issues of the fixed time for taking the
educational lessons (Mehdipour and Zerehkafi 2013). It also helps to achieve a better and
faster communication between the students and the teachers.
Weakness:
The major drawback in this case will be the absence of the digital literacy as the
medium of communication along with the educational classes will be following a digital
mode where the students will have to operate their mobile phones in order to take the learning
lessons (Pereira and Rodrigues 2013). Hence the ability of the students in order to handle the
digital mediums will be significant in this case. In spite of having the scope of a superior
communication between the student and the teacher, the mechanism will have limited
monitoring of the teachers on the students.

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Opportunities:
The major point of opportunity for the mentioned example will be availability of the
different online sources as study materials like e-books. Along with this the method will have
the additional advantage of having an improved way of communication which may alter time
to time according to the need of the interaction. The improved graphics for the online video
classes of the learning apps will have the advantage of reducing the apathy of the students in
taking the traditional classes and the study materials (Khaddage and Lattenman 2013). This
will also enable them to understand the topic in a better manner.
Threats:
The privatization of the learning apps will be significant threat for the students as the
increased amount of charges related to the products may reduce the number of students
availing the products. The addiction towards the technology or rather the mobile phones will
significantly increase with the introduction of the learning apps which according to many
may cause significant damage to the childhood of the students. Along with that the student
may get exposed to the harmful parts of the social media as well.
The PESTEL analysis will give a detailed explanation on the applicability of the mentioned
social innovation example.
Political/Legal:
The country Australia is not observed to have much rules and regulations in the usage
of mobile phones and the role of the political leaders in availing the digital medium is
significant as well. The political leaders are not observed to impose any sort of major barriers
to the mobile phone industry of the concerned nation rather even the politicians choose the
digital medium more often than not for conveying their message to the followers. There is
strict rule for the misuse of the mobile applications in the form of Crimes Legislation

8SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Amendment Act (2004) which covers the telecommunication offences
(Legislation.act.gov.au, 2018).
Economic:
The experienced Australian politician Tanya Plibersek in one of her comment
described that the Australian school funding is below than the international average by the
data that shows Australia’s per student spending in the form of the percentage of the per
capita GDP is 18% in the year 2016 for the primary in comparison to the OECD average of
22% and the same in the secondary is having a percentage of 23 compared to the OECD
average of 25% (Finance.gov.au, 2018). This clarifies the gap in the government budget for
nation in availing the technological advancement in the field of education but the Australian
economy ensures that the nation will be investing significantly in the education. Hence the
Mentioned social innovation will have a good future in the nation.
Social:
The Australian society is significantly tech-savvy and the people of the nation
depends on the presence of the technology in an increased manner in order to communicate
and operate their usual daily proceedings (Acma.gov.au, 2018). Hence the digital literacy will
not be a significant issue for the people of the nation in order to cope with the digital interface
in availing the educational lessons from the learning apps.
Technological:
The mentioned social innovation concept significantly depends on the technology as
the mode of the classes and the learning lessons will follow the digital medium. The
technological advancement in improving the graphics and the quality of the videos will
significantly help the concept in order to influence a larger number of students.

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Environmental:
The concept is significantly eco-friendly. The traditional method of taking
educational lessons usually incorporates the pen and paper method which is significantly
harmful as the formation of the paper would observe larger number of tree cuts but in case of
the lessons from the learning apps, the need of the papers in the process will not be
significant.
Overview and Challenges in Implementation:
The mentioned social innovation concept is instrumental in making sure that the
apathy of the students in taking the traditional method of learning does not influence them
much and the new concept with the improved attributes like the HD picture clarity along with
improved animation and graphics will increase the amount of interest of the students for the
educational lessons.
Challenges:
Though the availability of the mobile phones or computers in the mentioned country
is significant but even in that case the people generally considers the traditional method to be
more fruitful in order to achieve the education. The trust of the parents in the contents of the
learning apps is also a major challenge in this case and the materials and the learning of the
mobile applications need to increase the involvement of the renowned teachers with it in
order to gain the trust of the parents (Khaddage, Müller and Flintoff 2016). The user interface
is a major issue in the implementation as well as the simple form of it will enable larger
number of people in getting associated with it. The digital applications usually incorporate
several security measures in order to protect the data of a particular user but in spite of that
the security and the privacy of the data and the user portal is a notable concern for the
authority (Tsinakos and Ally 2013). The organization launching the concerned applications

10SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
must make sure that the confidentiality and the safety of the data of its user is taken care in
the appropriate manner and in doing so the organization can limit the amount of data to be
stored in the portal. A market analysis on the average spending of the Australians in the
education sector must be there in order to get the idea of the estimated price of the product
otherwise it will be significantly difficult in order to implement the product and align it
according to the expenditure of the Australians.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note it can be said that the social innovation has a major role in the
betterment of the society and the increased amount of benefits that generate from the social
innovation concept will be instrumental in easing out the difficulty of the people. The
proposed social innovation concept is able to hit the apathy of the modern day students in
taking the educational lessons owing to the lack of interest in digesting the pages. The new
concept produces significant opportunities to the students to overcome the traditional barriers
and increases the interest of them towards the new method of learning. Australia being a
heavy spending country on the education sector will be a suitable choice for this sort of
innovation and the proof of the fact that the government is spending less on the infrastructural
development of the educational centres from the speech of Tanya Plibersek will makes
significant space for the learning apps.

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References:
Acma.gov.au. (2018). Home | ACMA. [online] Available at: https://www.acma.gov.au/
Berge, Z.L. and Muilenburg, L. eds., 2013. Handbook of mobile learning. Routledge.
Cajaiba-Santana, G., 2014. Social innovation: Moving the field forward. A conceptual
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Chen, B. and Denoyelles, A., 2013. Exploring students’ mobile learning practices in higher
education. Educause Review, 7.
Finance.gov.au. (2018). Department of Finance |. [online] Available at:
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Khaddage, F. and Lattenman, C., 2013. The future of mobile apps for teaching and learning.
Handbook of mobile learning, pp.119-128.
Khaddage, F., Müller, W. and Flintoff, K., 2016. Advancing mobile learning in formal and
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Educational Technology & Society, 19(3).
Legislation.act.gov.au. (2018). ACT Legislation Register. [online] Available at:
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