DATA2600 Assistive and welfare technologies Course description

Assistive technologies - AT - are equipment, software or device used to increase, maintain or improve functional abilities for people with disabilities. Such equipment can be helpful to improve ability to take part in social activities, studies and working life, and can provide greater independence and control over one’s own everyday life.

Welfare technology is a common term for all technical installations and solutions that can improve the individual’s ability to get by in their own home, and contribute to ensuring quality of life and general well-being. Welfare technology can provide better services for elderly people living at home, patients in nursing homes, in the field of intoxicants and mental health, and people with disabilities. Welfare technology can also provide more efficient use of resources in the health and care services.

In this course you will learn how to plan, design, evaluate and test solutions within assistive and welfare technologies.

None beyond general admission requirements

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has in-depth knowledge of the focus area of the bachelor's thesis

Skills

The student

• can prepare a research question and project outline
• can choose, give grounds for and use a relevant scientific method
• can obtain and discuss relevant research articles and other specialist literature
• can discuss, assess and reflect on the research question and choice of methods in relation to findings and results
• can carry out the project in accordance with scientific criteria and guidelines for research ethics and data protection

General competence

The student

• can plan and carry out varied tasks and projects that take place over time and contribute to theoretical and/or practical development
• can critically reflect on research ethics issues and guidelines relating to project work
• can disseminate, discuss and present the results of his/her own project in writing

Work and teaching methods include lectures, seminars, supervision, group work and self-study. The course starts with lectures that will support the students’ work on the chosen subject, formulating the research questions and the project outline.

The bachelor’s thesis is normally written individually or in pairs. If the project’s topic is interprofessional, the project group can also include a student from another bachelor's degree programme, subject to the approval of the person responsible for the course at both programmes.

Students will meet at seminars during the project period. Halfway into the project, the students will meet to present their preliminary project status and provide input to fellow students on their projects. The students are assigned a supervisor after they have submitted a project outline describing the topic of the thesis. The supervision is based on written project material and specific questions submitted by the student(s) ahead of the supervision session. Students with an individual assignment are given four supervision sessions and group assignments are given six sessions.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• a project outline, subject to more detailed criteria. The project outline will be subject to assessment and must be approved before the work on the project begins
• minimum attendance of 80 % at seminars and academic supervision sessions

A thesis written individually or in groups of two students over a period of ten weeks. Scope: individual assignment 8,500 words (+/- 10 %), group assignment 11,000 words (+/- 10 %). The thesis can be written in either English or Norwegian.

Resits/rescheduled exam: Students who are awarded the grade F for their bachelor's thesis have the right to submit a reworked version once.

Students can appeal the grade awarded for written exams.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

All answers are assessed by two examiners. An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.

• 15 credits overlap with the course ORTO3900 Bachelor Assignment.

Internal sensor. External sensors are used regularly.