MAPD4210 Design and Culture Course description

Issues concerning design and culture require designers to adopt a broad, humanistic point of view. In this course, students will enhance their knowledge and awareness of cultural values and meanings, and their impact on design. Design is widely acknowledged as an increasingly multifaceted field, involving communication and interaction between people and material culture. Communication is complex, and language is key to creating meaning.

Design comprises several forms of articulation, and in this course, students are challenged to use and interweave visual, material, and verbal articulation to create new meaning. The course introduces strategies for integrating research methods to foster aesthetic awareness, empathy, criticality, and reflexivity, which can be activated in the development of products or services for chosen cultural contexts.

A student who has completed his or her qualification has the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has advanced knowledge of

• research designs relevant to the investigation of a particular research question
• a particular area of social or health policy of relevance to their degree
• relevant research literature on the subject matter of the master-s thesis
• theories and methodological approaches relevant for the chosen subject matter
• basic conceptual tools needed to understand an critically examine relevant social research

Skills

The student can

• conduct a review of the state of scientific knowledge related to a research question in social policy
• conduct a limited, independent research project under supervision
• choose a methodology that is relevant for a specific welfare research question
• apply research methods in a reflective manner
• critically evaluate relevant quantitative or qualitative methods used in reports, books or articles investigating a particular welfare policy problem

General Competence

The student can

• read and critically assess academic literature
• present specialised knowledge and research findings in the form of academic writing
• apply advanced skills and knowledge in the field of social welfare policy
• evaluate issues related to the academic, professional and research ethics

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved an advanced level in the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills, and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has:

• knowledge about how design culture can have an impact on developing products and cultural values
• knowledge about how design culture works as a bridge between design history and modern society
• attained knowledge of methods that involve documentation of relational matters e.g., (i) between products (things) and people, (ii) products and environment
• a good understanding of how aesthetic awareness works as a crucial factor in informed design practices
• a good understanding of how reflexivity and criticality work as crucial factors to challenge established perspectives and norms in the field

Skills

The student can:

• use aesthetic practice-based methods to enhance exploratory and analytical processes and to communicate the design process and the results
• use methods for documentation, e.g., auto-ethnographic method, to uncover and describe materialized processes and fieldwork
• interweave different forms of knowledge from practice and theory by using various forms of articulation (materialized, visual, and text)
• use methods to communicate the design process, and the results, the product(s) in a cultural context

General competence

The student has a developed understanding for:

• the relevance of knowledge of cultural values and meanings and their impact on design
• responsibility for the development of design in a culturally sustainable context

Compulsory activities must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam:

• A two page project outline must be submitted and approved. If the project outline is not approved by the supervisor, the student is allowed to submit an improved version once within the specified deadline.
• A signed agreement between the student and the supervisor must be submitted by a set date.

The exam consists of two parts: the Master's thesis itself and an oral examination.

Monograph

An individual thesis must have a scope of 52 pages (+ / - 10 percent), in Calibri 12 with line spacing 1.5 (excluding table of contents, foreword, summary, references and appendix). The thesis is to be written in the APA style. A thesis written by two students must have a scope of 77 pages. Co-writing has to be approved by the course coordinator.

Artitcle based thesis

the student can write an article based master’s thesis consisting of one ready to submit article manuscript intended for a peer reviewed journal (level one or two). Theses in article form written by two students should consist of two such article manuscripts. Along with the article(s) there must be an introductory chapter (in Norwegian referred to as "kappe") consisting of 14 pages (excluding table of contents, foreword, summary, references and appendix). The introductory chapter must be in the APA style. The article should be in the style of the journal.

Oral exam

The Master's thesis must receive a passing grade before the student can sit for the oral examination. The oral examination begins with the student presenting their Master's thesis in lecture format (30 minutes, 45 minutes if co-authored with another student). Following this, the student will participate in an individual, oral discussion and assessment (of approx. 45 minutes).

The student can choose to receive the grade on the written master's thesis before the oral presentation of the thesis (the lecture) commences.

The oral presentation (the lecture) and the subsequent individual, oral discussion and assessment can change the grade that is given for the Master's thesis. After the oral examination, the final grade is set. The final grade is entered into the diploma.

When two students co-author a Master's thesis, both will receive the same grade for the written thesis. Each individual student will, however, individually present their part of the thesis in lecture form and subsequently participate in an individual, oral discussion and assessment. The presentation and oral discussion and assessment will be evaluated as the individual student’s contribution and will be used for possible adjustment of the final grade.

A student can deliver a new or revised Master's thesis one time if the Master thesis does not receive a passing grade. The student in this case will receive an offer of three-hours further supervision before submitting. Students receiving a passing grade on their Master's thesis do not have the right to have their thesis re-evaluated within the same study program.

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

Grade scale A - F.

All exam papers are assessed by one internal and one external examiner. The supervisor must not be an examiner. In the event of a complaint about the grade, a new committee will be appointed, and the master's thesis will be reassessed. A new oral exam will be held if the grade changes.

Simon Innvær