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.

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

Ingen ut over opptakskrav.

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Knowledge:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the most important assistive technologies and welfare technologies being used today, and have a thorough understanding of how they work.
• Command a thorough understanding of the sensory, physical and cognitive functional disabilities and its consequences for social activity.
• Be able to distinguish the human and technological prerequisites needed for technical systems to function for users with disabilities.
• Critically assess and discuss the assistive and welfare technologies in a health and societal context.

Skills:

• Be able to address the user’s different needs, and to propose and implement technological facilitation.
• Demonstrate an ability to evaluate and consider user interface in relation to the needs of a person.

General competence:

• Reflect on how technology can assist people with and without disabilities
• Understand, communicate and implement solutions for different user needs
• Reflect on ethical dilemmas related to human interaction, technology and social participation

The student will carry out a project in the field of data protection and identity technology, preferably in collaboration with a relevant IT company, individually or in a group of up to five students. The aim is to provide the students with an introduction to data protection and identity technology, while they solve a commercial problem in the form of an extensive project assignment with a work load equivalent to 10 hours a week over a 12-week period. If the project is carried out during the summer, the work must correspond to four days a week over a six-week period.

The increasing use of digital media and internet to solve more and more of our tasks in both our private life and our work life (banking, shopping, health, education, exams, employment, news, tourism etc.), increases the chance of a data breach or misuse of personal information. In order to prevent this and ensure that trust in digital solutions is maintained, we need good data protection. By good data protection we mean that personal data must be treated carefully and used in such a way that it benefits users, customers and employees.

The aim of the new legislation GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is to focus on these issues and demand that all businesses that process personal data have a good data protection system in place, which among other things means that the registered person’s rights are maintained in a secure and reassuring way. These rights are about the right to access, deletion, portability, correction of wrong data and limits to processing. To comply with the strict demands for good personal data protection, it is necessary to have good technical support. This could be technology that supports the identification of persons, process automation, fraud prevention, handling the rights and consent of the data subjects, administration and quality assurance of data processor agreements, internal control support etc.

In addition to the projects on offer, students can find their own projects within a relevant company, public organization or nonprofit. In this case, it is the student's responsibility to find a supervisor for the project within the external organization. All student-initiated projects must be approved by the course coordinator before the start of the project. 

Completion of the course requires a placement in the relevant health care environment corresponding to two days a week over a 12-week period.If the project is carried out during the summer, the work must correspond to four days a week over a six-week period.

The elective course will only run if a sufficient number of students a registered.

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

Portfolio assessment with the following portfolio requirements:

• A group project (2-4 students, written report of approx. 10000 words)
• An individual project (written project of approx. 3000 words)

For the portfolio assessment, a comprehensive assessment is given with one final grade. Exam results can be appealed. In the case of a postponed examination, a different form of examination may also be proposed and used or a new assignment with a new deadline will be given. If an oral examination is used, its final grade cannot be appealed.

The students will work individually or in groups of up to five students to complete a project in the field of personal data and identity technology in cooperation with relevant external parties such as businesses or public organisations. The students are given access to relevant online resources, and receive supervision from an internal and/or external supervisor.

The course can be carried out individually by agreement with the course coordinator.

The projects are chosen/assigned at the start of the semester.

The following work requirements are mandatory and must be approved in order to prepare for the exam:

• A project outline that describes how the group will organise their work on the project.
• A standard learning agreement must be entered into between the project provider / supervisor and the student(s), and this must be approved by the course coordinator before the project can start.
• Three meeting minutes from supervisory meetings during the project period.
• An oral mid-term presentation, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A.

The deadlines for submitting the project outline and minutes of the meetings will be presented in the teaching plan, which is made available at the beginning of the semester.

Written project report (100% of the final grade).

A written project report delivered at the of the semester, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 4000 words +/-10 %.

For group projects, all members of the group receive the same grade. Under exceptional circumstances, individual grades can be assigned at the discretion of the project supervisor(s) and Head of Studies.

The exam result can be appealed.