Impact Blueprint
Meaningful work experience without leaving school.
A two-day on-campus work experience program where students solve real organisational challenges using teamwork, AI and structured problem solving. See videos at the bottom of this page.
Students work in teams on a genuine challenge supplied by a business, charity, council, community organisation, school or public institution. They use AI as a practical work tool to understand the organisation, consider possible responses and prepare a recommendation they can explain to an adult audience. This is not a fictional classroom case study. Students work with a real organisation, a real problem and a real expectation that their thinking should be useful.
Why Impact Blueprint matters
Many students have limited experience of workplaces, business problems, teamwork or professional communication. Impact Blueprint gives them a structured introduction to what work after school can feel like: receiving a brief, understanding a problem, using tools, working with others, considering options and presenting a recommendation to adults. The program is designed to be practical, achievable and meaningful. Students are not expected to arrive with business knowledge or advanced AI skills. They are guided through a simple process that helps them move from uncertainty to a clear recommendation.
What students do
Over two days, students work through three stages.
1. Understand the organisation and the problem
Students learn what the organisation does, who it serves, what challenge it is facing and why that challenge matters. The first task is not to find an answer. It is to understand what they have been asked to consider.
2. Create three possible solution ideas
Students use AI to help generate and compare three possible responses. They consider what could work, what could be difficult and which idea deserves their support.
3. Build and deliver a presentation
Students prepare an eight-slide presentation with speaker notes, then present their recommendation to the business owner or organisation representative.
The student presentation
Each team produces an eight-slide presentation:
- The Organisation
- The Problem
- What We Found
- Three Ideas We Considered
- The Idea We Recommend
- Why We Recommend It
- What Could Be Difficult
- Conclusion and Thank You
The presentation is not just about having an idea. Students need to explain what they found, what they considered, what they recommend and why.
How AI is used
AI is now part of the way many people work. In Impact Blueprint, students use AI in a simple and practical way. It helps them organise information, clarify the problem, suggest possible ideas, compare alternatives and draft presentation material. But AI does not make the final decision. Students still need to check the work, understand what they are saying and take responsibility for the recommendation they present.
The central rule is simple: Do not present anything you do not understand.
Designed for schools and real-world partners
Impact Blueprint is designed for Year 10 and Year 11 students, including students with little or no previous experience using AI. It can support:
- career education;
- enterprise and innovation programs;
- future-focused learning;
- project-based learning;
- student leadership;
- community and business engagement initiatives.
Developed through live workshop experience
Impact Blueprint has been developed through more than 80 workshops with secondary students working on real organisational challenges. That experience has shaped the current design. The program is deliberately simple. Students do not need to navigate a long guide or manage complex AI prompts. They use one guided AI conversation that moves them through the process step by step.
What students leave with
- a clearer understanding of a real organisation;
- experience working in a team;
- practice using AI as a work tool;
- three possible solution ideas;
- one recommended direction;
- an eight-slide presentation with speaker notes;
- experience presenting to an adult audience.
More importantly, they leave with a first experience of what meaningful work can involve: understanding a problem, considering options, making a choice and explaining their thinking clearly.
Workshop videos
Here are some short videos from the 2023 workshops made by NSW Education and the Broken Bay Diocese. Please note that the workshop was named "Enterprise in the Community" between early 2020 and late 2023. In 2024, I redesigned the workshop and named it "Impact Blueprint":
https://youtu.be/natq0Raa3Sk?si=ksaoi4j5CIe8kdwh
https://youtu.be/mm8d9LFexbI?si=YguqLK-ioMnz3W4Ghttps://youtu.be/MP6cW-B5C94?si=BH7LL9Ne-yQKJMyk
https://youtu.be/0G-4_qBjuiw?si=tyRAOjB3hCAdZjej
