SERNB2000 Nutrition through the Life Cycle Course description

Program Structure

The program constitutes a scientifically and pedagogically integrated whole; with compulsory and elective components (all comprising 10 ECTS), in addition to master’s theses of 30 ECTS (BSCA) and 60 ECTS (BSII).

Content of common compulsory courses

These courses provide basic insight and some practical skills in behavior analysis. The philosophy of science that is fundamental to behavior analysis is introduced and placed in a wider context of philosophy of science. The status of various scientific approaches in modern society is discussed. The courses place the study of human behavior in a natural science tradition and emphasize a selectionist understanding of change processes. Basic ontological and epistemological questions are discussed: unity of knowledge; the relationship between natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities; determining and defining analytical units in research; and methodological approaches suitable for promoting effective action based on functional analyses. Behavior analysis – experimental, conceptual and applied – is introduced as a cumulative science of behavior.

Compulsory courses

These courses are compulsory for all students:

• MALK4000-401 Complexity, Science and Society
• MALK4000-403 Behavior Analysis and Radical Behaviorism
• MALKA211 Introduction to Behavior Analysis
• MALKA214 Experimental Design and Functional Analysis

For students in the Concepts and applications specialisation, these courses are also compulsory:

• MALK4000-402 Relational Skills
• MALKA212 Refinement of Behavior Analytic Terms
• MALKA213 Laboratory Exercises – Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Content of elective courses

In the elective courses, various behaviorally based approaches to initiating, facilitating and managing change processes in individual behavior repertoire, organizations and systems are studied. Behavioral technology comprises everything from basic self-control techniques to sophisticated tools for initiating and managing complex processes in large organizations. Important features in this methodology are operational measures of change and continuous data collection.

Elective courses (a total of 20 ECTS)

Each student chooses two (2) of the following courses:

• MALKA212 Refinement of Behavior Analytic Terms*
• MALKA215 Complex Human Behavior*
• MALKA217 Early Intervention for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders
• MALKA218 Ethical Considerations in Applied Behavior Analysis
• MALKA219 Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)
• MALKA220 Behavioral Economics
• MALKA221 Complex Systems and Risk Management

* Students at the BSII-specialisation who choose MALKA215 as one of the two elective courses, has to choose MALKA212 as the second elective course. MALKA212 should then be carried out in the spring semester the first year of study. This will cause a higher workload during this semester for students at the BSII-specialisation who choose MALKA215 and MALKA212 as elective courses.

Elective courses are normally offered every Fall term. Students enrol for courses by deadlines each semester, and the department reserves the right to cancel courses with insufficient enrolment. Depending on the number of students enrolled, changes may be made in the way the courses are conducted.

Master’s theses – 30 and 60 ECTS credits

Students admitted to specialisation in Concepts and Applications write an individual master’s thesis worth 30 ECTS (MALK5000). The thesis is usually a work in progress during the elective courses, when students participate in research projects with faculty.

By the end of the final course at the latest, the student submits a thesis outline, including a research question, a plan for progress, and a plan for dissemination (see guidelines, Thesis outline). When faculty approves the thesis outline, the student is assigned a supervisor for his thesis work. See the course descriptions for MALK5000 for a more detailed description of the master’s thesis worth 30 ECTS.

Students admitted to specialisation in Innovation and Implementation write an individual master’s thesis worth 60 ECTS (MALK5900). Students’ theses will be written with a basis in innovation projects designed and implemented by the candidates in the program. The program appoints a thesis advisor, and the candidate works with a dedicated field supervisor trained by the Department of Behavioral Science. The thesis reports the planning, design and implementation of the innovation project, and includes an executive summary that will be made publicly available through a Project Bank. See the course descriptions for MALK5900 for a more detailed description of the master’s thesis worth 60 ECTS.

Two compulsory seminars in research ethics cover academic honesty; the work of Regional Ethics Committees; the guidelines of OsloMet on research ethics and research fraud; current publication manuals and APA style manuscript preparation, and the use of electronic reference management tools. The seminars are taken place digitally and are open for students from all stages of the program. One seminar is held every semester, and both seminars must be completed before the proposal for the thesis is submitted.

The master’s thesis can be written in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

The program complies with the quality assurance systems required by the university.

Progression Requirements

All coursework requirements must be approved to sit for the final course exam. Coursework requirements must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements according to the following:

• MALK4000-403: MALK4000-401, or equivalent
• MALKA211: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, or equivalent
• MALKA212: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, or equivalent
• MALKA213: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, or equivalent
• MALKA214: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, or equivalent
• MALKA215: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, MALKA214, or equivalent
• MALK5000: All courses in the specialisation must be completed with pass grades and the coursework requirements, including seminars in research ethics, must be approved before the candidate may submit the master’s thesis.
• MALK5900: All courses in the specialisation must be completed with pass grades and the coursework requirements, including seminars in research ethics, and thesis seminars must be approved before the candidate may submit the master’s thesis.

Courses in the BSII-specialisation are digitalised and to some degree self-paced. They are designed according to the principles of Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), which require that students master the content of a specific learning unit before they are allowed to proceed with the next unit in the course sequence.

Exemption from the provisions of progression requirements may in special cases and upon application by the student, be granted.

Varied and student-active teaching methods are used in the program. The languages of instruction are Norwegian and English. Textbooks, reading packages and digital course sequences are in English.

Good learning outcomes primarily depend on the students’ own efforts. Student effort includes benefiting from teaching and academic supervision; following this up with independent work in the form of theoretical studies, and, when relevant, practical skills training. The program is demanding, and requires consistent effort during the whole semester. The most important work and teaching forms used in each course in the program are described below. Individual course descriptions state which work methods each course employs.

Web-based work and teaching methods

Several forms of digital learning resources are used in the program, such as digital textbooks, digital lectures, video clips, tests, and assignments. These resources can be used to prepare for teaching sessions, during seminars using Interteaching, and as part of self-study. This form of teaching requires the students to meet prepared for the scheduled teaching sessions. Interaction can also take place digitally. Students from both specialisations will have access to digitalised versions of the course content. For the digital course sequences, feedback on details of course content, and supervised discussion groups will be available during pre-determined time periods.

Personalized System of Instruction (PSI)

The Innovation and Implementation specialisation provides students with digital course sequences constructed from the principles of Personalized System of Instruction, PSI. This is a teaching program that builds verbal/conceptual repertoires by going from basic to advanced concepts with no gaps in between, and where student progress is contingent on mastering previous learning units at a certain level before the next unit is made available. This will, with required readings matched to the course content and dedicated sessions for teacher’s response to student questions, allow for a certain degree of self-pacing, making this suited for part-time students with different demands on their time than full-time students. The complete content of each course will be broken down into course sequences that build upon the previous one, with a mastery test at the end of each sequence. A success rate of 80% allows the student to continue to the next sequence.

The course sequences replace lectures and workshops for those who are in the Innovation and Implementation specialisation, but students are welcome to participate in all teaching and learning activities, irrespective of their specialisation.

Lectures

Lectures are primarily used to introduce new subject matter, provide an overview and highlight main elements and links within different topics, and also to communicate relevant issues.

Seminars

Seminars emphasize dialogue and discussion between the subject teacher(s) and students in order to stimulate the student's academic development. Verbal presentations by students and discussions are emphazised. In connection with MALK5900: Master's thesis (60 ECTS), seminars are held where scientific and methodological aspects of the master's theses are presented and discussed. The students receive feedback from their fellow students and teachers, which enables them to learn from each other. Research-related issues, methods and academic supervision are among the topics discussed in the seminars. Seminars for MALK5900 will be conducted on digital collaboration platforms.

Interteaching

Interteaching is a technology of classroom instruction based on the principles of behavior analysis. The Interteaching method includes pre-session reading; discussion of pre-determined questions in pairs with perambulating instructors; summarizing lectures based on questions from the discussions, and data collection including student evaluation of each session.

Written assignments

Written assignments vary according to learning outcomes, course content and work methods. The assignments usually consist of written work, in the form of essays, reaction papers or reviews of literature, or multiple-choice tests. The coursework requirements ensure steady academic progress and stimulate the students to acquire new knowledge; testing their knowledge, skills and competencies against the standards of the course outcomes. Coursework requirements get feedback from instructors and are specifically designed to give students practice in academic writing and prepare them for thesis work.

Simulation/laboratory exercises/skills training

Simulation/laboratory exercises/skills training is used to design and execute learning experiments, giving hands-on experience with basic learning processes and experiments.

Self-study and student cooperation/group work

Learning requires a high degree of self-paced activity and self-study, including both individual work and cooperation with fellow students. Through activities such as exchanging ideas, presentations, discussions, writing assignments and problem-based assignments, students will be stimulated to learn by communicating knowledge and experience, expressing their own opinions and, together, reflecting on their own attitudes, actions and understanding of the field. Students are encouraged to take initiative to schedule and actively participate in study groups to promote learning. Information about the activities in the institute’s research groups is presented at the start the program, and students are encouraged to take part in the lab activities in the research groups. For each course, the students are responsible for readings.

The increasing globalization of the labour market makes international experience and knowledge of languages and cultures increasingly important. Internationalization contributes to raising the quality of education and strengthens the academic community relating to the master’s program, at the same time as it strengthens the students as global citizens.

The Program for Behavioral Science has teaching and research collaboration projects and agreements with several foreign institutions of higher education. We encourage students to take a part of their master`s degree at one of our collaborating institutions, subject to the approval of the Head of Studies. A prerequisite for approval of the exchange is that the coursework is interchangeable with courses in our master’s program.

The recommended options for international exchange are the 3rd semester for students at the BSCA-specialisation and 4th semester for students at the BSII-specialisation.

Courses open to exchange students

The following courses are open to exchange students:

• MALKA211 Introduction to Behavior Analysis, 10 ECTS
• MALKA212 Refinement of Behavior Analytic Terms, 10 ECTS
• MALKA213 Laboratory Exercises – Experimental Analysis of Behavior,10 ECTS
• MALKA215 Complex Human Behavior, 10 ECTS
• MALKA217 Early Intervention for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders, 10 ECTS
• MALKA218 Ethical Considerations in Applied Behavior Analysis, 10 ECTS
• MALKA219 Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), 10 ECTS
• MALKA220 Behavioral Economics, 10 ECTS
• MALKA221 Complex Systems and Risk Management,10 ECTS

Exchange students should have basic competence or a strong interest in behavior analysis.

Of these courses, MALKA213 is always taught in English. The others are taught in English when international students attend the course, otherwise they are mainly taught in Norwegian.

Required reading is primarily in English.

Følgende arbeidskrav må være godkjent for å fremstille seg til eksamen:

• en praktisk gruppeoppgave med muntlig framlegg, inntil 6 studenter i gruppa
• en teoretisk gruppeoppgave med skriftlig rapport (2000-3000 ord) og muntlig framlegg. Inntil 6 studenter i hver gruppe.

Eksamensinnhold: Læringsutbyttene

Eksamensform: Individuell skriftlig eksamen under tilsyn, 5 timer

For all courses except MALKA213 Laboratory exercises – experimental analysis of behavior and MALK5000/MALK5900 Master’s thesis, there is a final individual written home examination. Exams are tailored to the learning outcomes, course content and teaching and learning methods.

The examination in MALKA213 is an empirical article based on experiments (project examination).

Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English. All ordinary exams are held in the same term as the corresponding course.

All exams are evaluated and graded by two examiners, one from program faculty and one external to the program. The grading scale on all exams is: A (highest) to F (lowest) where A to E are the pass grades, and F is a fail grade.

All courses included in the specialisation are specified on the diploma, as is the title of the master’s thesis.

Assessments are carried out in accordance with the Act Relating to Universities and University Colleges, Regulations Relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet and Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet.

In accordance with Regulations Relating to Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet, external program supervisors are affiliated with this study program. The external program supervisors shall through feedback and advice contribute to ensuring that:

• the Master’s Degree program is a high-quality program judged by the standards for equivalent degrees at other national and international higher education institutions
• there is a coherence between the learning outcomes, teaching and forms of assessment
• there is a coherence between the different courses of the program
• the students’ knowledge and skills are tested and assessed in an impartial and satisfactory way.

The external program supervisors prepare a report that will be included in the department’s quality assurance work.

Approved by NOKUT on April 15th, 2004

Approved by the Board of Akershus University College on September 7th, 2004

Last amendments approved by the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences on April 17 2024

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