Concept Lab(Summer School) (3cr)

Objective

Concept Lab is a learning environment enhancing students capabilities to conduct user-centered research and design in a multi-discipline, multicultural context. Students engage to hands-on innovation work developing novel service, product or business model concepts either for their own business idea or for a local or global company. In addition to this, students are offered seminar afternoons where inspirational topics are processed through lectures and workshops. Concept Lab aims to educate out-of-box thinking capable, co-creative and networked professionals with methods rooting from design, concepting and innovation fostering. Students grow understanding of concepting work, develop a concept development plan and take main responsibility of their teams work and performance.
Concept development projects come from various fields and thus support students understanding of their own field in the context of surrounding disciplines, aim is to include projects that deal with the idea of convergence, merging different businesses into experience and mediated social presence: examples of past project topics include new mobile services for media company, city environment development, theatre marketing renovation, charity concept development to Ethiopia, cable television concept renovation, web mimes and mobile shopping future just to mention a few. For academics, Concept Lab targets to develop new pedagogy and learning methods to support learning skills for current and future working life.

Content

This unit of study consists of three parts: development and research of the idea, executing the development plan and evaluation. All three parts will be accomplished within the framework of the student learning workshop. The students will work in teams to carry out the analysis and planning necessary to write a concept plan, as well as write a comprehensive development plan for the collaboration. For example research on how an organisation could develop new kind of relations to its target audience and maybe new survival concepts for the future.
The project teams will produce and market their product, as well as perform all the related managerial tasks. The teams will also evaluate the performance of their project together with clients (if any) and teachers.

Qualifications

Thorough understanding of project management and project processes, basic studies of own field

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

excellent (5) students show an excellent understanding of the key issues and their work is very well-produced
good (3-4) students understand the main processes and concepts and their work is of a reasonable standard
satisfactory (1-2) students gain and demonstrate enough knowledge to pass the course