PHUV9350 Cultural-Historical Activity Theory – CHAT Course description

Approved by the Doctoral Committee 24 May 2018. Minor changes approved 27.04.2020.

This PhD-course is open for candidates at the PhD Program in Educational Sciences for Teacher Education, other PhD candidates and academic employees.

Language: English (and Norwegian, dependent on the language of participants).

This course introduces Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as an epistemological and methodological framework for conducting action research in social, work-based and/or educational settings. Action research is broadly defined as research and development work in which researchers and practitioners jointly investigate work activities and analyze empirical data in order to design a new or improved model of the activity.

On completion of the course, the candidate will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The candidate:

• has knowledge of historical and contemporary perspectives on Activity Theory, related to philosophy of science and theories of knowledge
• has knowledge of key questions related to research and ethics in activity theoretical action research

Skills

The candidate:

• can explain key concepts of Activity Theory
• can analyze relationships between theories of knowledge and Activity Theory
• can discuss epistemological, methodological, and ethical problems in activity theoretical action research
• can give academically competent oral presentations of action research projects guided by Activity Theory

General competence

The candidate:

• can use Activity Theory as a theoretical framework for action research

Organized tuition is given in the form of digital lectures and seminars. Candidates are expected to actively participate in all the teaching activities.

Students are expected to read the syllabus before the course to be able to participate actively in discussions.

The candidate prepares a fifteen minutes oral presentation of aspects of Activity theoretical action research that the candidate finds particularly interesting and relevant. The presentation can be in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English. Following the presentation there will be a 10 minutes sequence in which the candidate responds to questions from the examiners.

New and postponed examination

In case of failed exam/legal absence, the student can have a new exam under the same conditions when a new/postponed exam is arranged.

Regulations

Regulations for new or postponed examinations are available in Regulations relating to studies and examinations at OsloMet. Students must register for a new or postponed examination. More detailed information about registration and times for new or postponed examinations is available on the web site.

The learning outcomes serve as criteria for assessments. The grades are "pass" or "fail".

The objective of this course is to familiarize the student with basic business development concepts and theories in the context of newly started ventures or projects. The course provides deepened theoretical and practical knowledge about strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, networking and business development in an international business environment. The aim is to develop capabilities and skills to act upon business and societal opportunities, needs and challenges, in order to develop successful businesses and innovations in a global and changing business environment. The student is provided with tools and framework needed to work on business development, including how to form the firm’s vision, mission, values and how to use various frameworks and tools to analyze the external environment.

The course provides a guide to theories and practices within strategy, business model development, decision making, business planning, marketing and human resource management that are related to, or relevant for, the development of new ventures and projects. The course emphasizes all aspects of the strategy process of getting new ideas to the market including the formulation, implementation, management and change of strategies. The students use their newly created ventures or project as a basis in this course. This means that students taking this course need a newly started venture or project to work on. All assignments and modules are directly linked to the students’ own projects.

Language of instruction is English.