Critical thinking for sustainable business solutions (Coursera)

Offered by The Open University,
Critical thinking for sustainable business solutions (Coursera)

This course will help you to discover how to flip your logical thinking and reasoning mind to enable you to generate a wide range of innovative ideas and assess when to apply the different thinking modes appropriately in the ideation process.

You’ll apply critical reflective thinking to avoid personal biases and unintended consequences when you develop potential solutions. You will also analyse proto-concepts critically to ensure their suitability and the likelihood of positive impact.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Via text-based resources and task books, you’ll gain comprehensive understanding and benefit from in-depth reference points as you formulate your ideas and plans.
This course is part of the Sustainability for business success Specialization.

What you'll learn

  • Understand how the creative ideation process functions to generate a broad range of relevant outcomes to your challenge domain and systems map.
  • Converge on a selection of the most impactful ideas to take forward for implementation and (in)validation.

Syllabus

Welcome to the course
This week, you will dive into the process of creative thinking to solve systemic challenges. You will learn how to generate a broad range of ideas to address your defined sustainability issues.

Developing sustainable business ecosystem concepts
This week, you will learn how to converge your ideas into concrete concepts to take forward and test throughout the rest of the course.

Converging on sustainability concepts
This week, you will converge your thinking to make decisions about which ideas to take forward or to leave behind.

Refining sustainability concepts
This week, you will refine the ideas you are considering taking forward and reflect on how this will affect your draft systems map from course 2 in the Coursera Specialization 'Sustainability for business success'.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Responsible AI in the Generative AI Era (Coursera) Coursera
Fractal Analytics

Responsible AI in the Generative AI Era (Coursera)

This one-week microlearning course provides an introduction to the Principles of Responsible AI and how those principles align with the Generative AI or GenAI space. It also informs the learners about the various challenges that Generative AI brings. You will explore the fundamental principles of responsible AI, and understand the need for developing Generative AI tools responsibly.

Oct 26th 2026
1 Week
Villes africaines: Environnement et enjeux de développement durable (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Villes africaines: Environnement et enjeux de développement durable (Coursera)

Le cours propose une lecture de l’environnement urbain en Afrique à travers les thématiques les plus pertinentes pour mesurer le niveau de développement d’un pays : eau et vie urbaine, assainissement (eaux usées et pluviales), gestion des déchets solides, agriculture urbaine. Après avoir analysé les différents enjeux de celles-ci, nous aborderons les liens entre environnement urbain et santé.

Oct 19th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Sustentabilidad y Economías Sociales (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de Chile

Sustentabilidad y Economías Sociales (Coursera)

En los últimos años el fenómeno del Emprendimiento con Sentido, la Innovación Social y la relevancia de la Sustentabilidad dan cuenta de la imperiosa necesidad de modernizar los esquemas de gestión de empresas y adaptarlos a una realidad cambiante, modificando paradigmas hacia las nuevas economías enfocadas en un desarrollo sustentable.

Oct 19th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Sustainability (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Introduction to Sustainability (Coursera)

This course introduces the academic approach of Sustainability and explores how today’s human societies can endure in the face of global change, ecosystem degradation and resource limitations. The course focuses on key knowledge areas of sustainability theory and practice, including population, ecosystems, global change, energy, agriculture, water, environmental economics and policy, ethics, and cultural history.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
ODS y sostenibilidad: una mirada desde los colegios (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

ODS y sostenibilidad: una mirada desde los colegios (Coursera)

En este curso veremos cómo podemos generar cambios y transformaciones (a nivel individual, organizacional y social) para la sostenibilidad desde la educación formal y no-formal. Partiremos del concepto de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) como un marco potente para generar reflexiones críticas, que nos lleven a generar acciones colectivas desde la escuela en pro de la sostenibilidad.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to the Arctic: Climate (Coursera) Coursera
University of Alberta

Introduction to the Arctic: Climate (Coursera)

The University of Alberta, the University of Tromso and the University of the Arctic invite you to explore this four week course that examines the environment and climate of the circumpolar North. This course is the result of an international collaboration and provides you with an insight into our planet's North. Following an overview of regional geography, we will focus on the cryosphere (ice), as well as the atmosphere and ocean of the region.

Oct 19th 2026
4 Weeks
Oceanography: a key to better understand our world (Coursera) Coursera
University of Barcelona,Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing - FNOB

Oceanography: a key to better understand our world (Coursera)

The course for a round the world regatta leads the boats through the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, Southern Indian and South Pacific Oceans. On their voyage, the skippers come across a large variety of oceanographic situations: strong currents, floating ice, wave formations of every kind and biological diversity. In this course the student will learn about the foundations of the science of oceanography. You'll learn about the classification and formation of the ocean floor, how current sea satellite analysis systems work, the chemistry of the oceans and the processes that led to its formation.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introducción a UML (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Introducción a UML (Coursera)

Bienvenidos a este curso de introducción al Lenguaje de Modelado Unificado, o UML por su sigla en inglés. Este curso surge como respuesta a la necesidad de los ingenieros de software de desarrollar la habilidad de abstraer y representar en un modelo problemas o soluciones. Esta habilidad es especialmente importante en el mundo del software donde las tecnologías son tan cambiantes. Un modelo te provee una forma de comunicar y validar un entendimiento, independiente de la tecnología en la que construirás una solución.

Oct 26th 2026
4 Weeks
Herramientas de la Economía Circular (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Herramientas de la Economía Circular (Coursera)

La Economía Circular representa una perspectiva de mejoramiento continuo para la transformación de sistemas de producción y consumo sostenibles. Aprender de sus herramientas, agrega un valor agregado concreto, a las competencias de profesionales interesados en la sostenibilidad ambiental y social. El presente curso ofrece aprender de la importancia de la Economía Circular a través de sus herramientas, útiles para el diseño de proyectos.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Psychology (Coursera) Coursera
Yale University

Introduction to Psychology (Coursera)

What are people most afraid of? What do our dreams mean? Are we natural-born racists? What makes us happy? What are the causes and cures of mental illness? This course tries to answer these questions and many others, providing a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of thought and behavior. It explores topics such as perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, persuasion, emotions, and social behavior. We will look at how these aspects of the mind develop in children, how they differ across people, how they are wired-up in the brain, and how they break down due to illness and injury.

Oct 26th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Electric Industry Operations and Markets (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Electric Industry Operations and Markets (Coursera)

This is a two week course. In the first week you will learn about the core activities that the Industry executes to bring electricity to customers. We will review what electricity is, how it is generated, how it is transmitted, how it comes into buildings, and how consumption of electricity instantly feeds back on the transmission and generation of electricity.

Oct 19th 2026
2 Weeks