Praktisk pedagogikk for fagskolen 1 – grunnleggende lærerkompetanse Programplan

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 40 ECTS.

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. Behavior analysis – experimental, conceptual and applied – is introduced as a cumulative science of behavior.

Compulsory courses

• MALK4100 Science, Behavior, and Society
• MALK4000-403 Behavior Analysis and Radical Behaviorism
• MALKA211 Introduction to Behavior Analysis
• MALKA212 Refinement of Behavior Analytic Terms
• MALKA213 Laboratory Exercises – Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• MALKA214 Experimental Design and Functional Analysis

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:

• 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 (Not offered in 2025)
• MALKA222 Clinical Behavior Analysis

Elective courses are normally offered every Fall term. Students enrol for courses bydeadlines each semester, and thedepartment 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 thesis

Students write an individual master’s thesis worth 40 ECTS (MALK5920/MALKD5920). 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 MALK5920/MALKD5920 for a more detailed description of the master’s thesis worth 40 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 forstudents 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:

MALKA211: MALK4100 or equivalent

MALKA212: MALK4100, MALKA211, or equivalent

MALKA213: MALK4100, MALKA211, MALKA212, or equivalent

MALKA214: MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, or equivalent

MALKA215: MALK4100, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, MALKA214, or equivalent

MALKD5920: 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.

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.

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.

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.

Courses open to exchange students

The following courses are open to exchange students and will be offered in English in case of participation of international exchange students:

• MALK4000-403 Behavior Analysis and Radical Behaviorism, 10 ECTS
• 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
• MALKA222 Clincal Behavior Analysis

Exchange students should have basic competence in behavior analysis.

Courses are taught in English when international students attend the course, otherwise they are mainly taught in Norwegian.

Required reading is primarily in English.

All courses except MALKA212, MALKA213, MALKA214 and MALKA218 have one or more coursework requirements. Each assignment is graded Approved/Not approved. All assignments must be approved before the student can sit for the exam in each course.

Written assignments

The assignments are submitted digitally, and written feedback is delivered in the same electronic platform. When the coursework requirement is delivered according to deadlines in the course schedule the student has the right to receive feedback on the assignment. Assignments not submitted within the set deadline will be considered failed.

A student may submit the same compulsory assignment a maximum of three times. Failed assignments must be reworked before resubmission. If the second submission fails, the student is not eligible for the regular examination. The student is entitled to a third attempt before new/deferred exam.

If one or more assignments are not approved after three attempts, the student must attend the course the next time it is arranged, usually the subsequent year. Application for a fourth and final attempt to complete the assignment to sit for the exam are decided on an individual basis by the study administration in cooperation with the person responsible for the course.

All coursework in writing, including master’s theses, undergoes automatic plagiarism control on submission.

Attendance requirementsWhile there is no attendance required for lectures, this is a demanding program, and steady work is required throughout the courses.

Two research ethics seminars are 100 % attendance required before the thesis outline can be submitted. The seminars are taken place digitally and held annually, one each semester. It is recommended to complete the seminars during the first year of studies.

Exams are tailored to the learning outcomes, course content and teaching and learning methods.

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 except the master’s thesis are assessed by one examiner, with an external examiner used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. The master’s thesis is evaluated and graded by one internal and one external examiner. 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 titleof 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 Useof Examiners at OsloMet.

Exams in Master in Behavioral Science – specialisation in Concepts and Applications

• MALK4100 Science, Behaviour and Society: Portfolio exam that includes 3 individual written assignments (A-F)
• MALK4000-403 Behavior Analysis and Radical Behaviorism: Individual written home examination, 5 hours (A-F)
• MALKA211 Introduction to Behavior Analysis: Individual written school examination, 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA212 Refinement of Behavior Analytic Terms: Individual written school examination (combination of essays and multiple choice/digital tests), 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA213 Laboratory Exercises – Experimental Analysis of Behavior Analysis: Individual project examination (A-F)
• MALKA214 Experimental Design and Functional Analysis: Individual written school examination (multiple choice test), 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA215 Complex Human Behavior: MALKA215 Complex Human Behavior: Individual written school examination, 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA217 Early Intervention for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Individual written school examination, 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA218 Ethical Considerations in Applied Behavior Analysis: Individual written home examination, 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA219 Organizational Behavior Management (OBM): Individual written home examination, 3 hours (A-F)
• MALKA220 Behavioral Economics: Portfolio exam that includes 2 individual written assignments (A-F)
• MALKA222 Clinical Behavior Analysis: Individual written home examination, 3 hours (Pass/Fail)
• MALK5920/MALKD5920 Master’s Thesis: Master’s thesis, individual (A-F)

Approved by NOKUT on April 15th, 2004

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

Last amendments approved by Head of Department 2 April 2025.

Studenten skal gjennomføre veiledet og vurdert pedagogisk praksis 20 dager i løpet av studieåret.

Yrkespedagogisk praksis administreres av universitetet og gjennomføres i henhold til utarbeidete retningslinjer, praksisguide og vurderingsskjema for studiet. Egen eller annen egnet arbeidsplass brukes som arena for læring og pedagogisk praksis. I veiledet pedagogisk praksis er det krav om 100 % tilstedeværelse, i h. t. gjeldende retningslinjer for praksisopplæring.

Praksisopplæringen betraktes som en likeverdig læringsarena på linje med læringsarbeid på campus/nett. Dette innebærer at problemstillinger som tas opp i studiet prøves ut og videreutvikles i praksisopplæringen. På samme måte vil erfaringer fra praksis danne grunnlag for diskusjoner og læringsarbeid på samlingene.

Student og veileder skal dokumentere de læringsaktiviteter som gjennomføres i praksisperiodene. Praksisveileder vurderer praksisperioden til bestått/ikke bestått i samarbeid med universitetet. Veiledet pedagogisk praksis må være gjennomført og vurdert til bestått for å kunne avlegge eksamen i emnet.

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Godkjent av prodekan ved LUI: 15.02.2019

Programplanen gjelder for oppstart høst 2019

Endringer godkjent av prodekan for studier LUI 18.12.2020