Social Entrepreneurship Teaching and Learning: Opportunity Identification Using the Social Gap-Opportunity Assessment Canvas (SGO Canvas)

Abstract

In today's high-tech world, marked by the widespread use of advanced technology, the traditional approach to education in which knowledge is simply communicated from lecturers to students is becoming increasingly obsolete. This change needs a shift to a learner-centered strategy that emphasizes active participation and critical thinking, whereby educators must adapt their teaching approaches to provide enriching and effective learning experiences that encourage students to think critically and apply their knowledge in real-world circumstances. This paper presents the Social Gap-Opportunity Assessment Canvas (SGO Canvas), an innovative teaching and learning tool developed to help students deepen their understanding of the social entrepreneurship process and the creation of opportunities within complex social contexts. With its primary objective to guide learners in proposing viable social entrepreneurship projects that are grounded in real-life situations, the analysis of students’ reflective reports and their SGO Canvases revealed that the students were able to systematically articulate and navigate the dual processes of social gap identification and opportunity creation. This reflects the ability of the SGO Canvas to empower students to identify social issues that demand attention while also uncovering potential avenues for impactful entrepreneurial solutions.