Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Credits: 6

Schedule: 28.10.2019 - 05.12.2019

Teacher in charge (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022): Kristina Wittkowski

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Emma Salminen

Contact information for the course (valid 10.10.2019-21.12.2112):

HELP AND ASSISTANCE: 

If you need any assistance, please follow this process: 

Check the discussions in the forum and the materials provided on the MyCourses webpage (https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/view.php?id=23638). Please check, if your issue has been already addressed, e.g., in previous posts. If this is not the case, you may post your question to the Discussion forum. You can expect a reply within 48 hours during weekdays. 

If you do not find an answer to your question on MyCourses, please contact me through emma.m.salminen@aalto.fi. We can then agree on a meeting time and place. If your issue is of a private and/or serious nature, please email me directly. 

CEFR level (applies in this implementation):

Language of instruction and studies (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022):

English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  We will cover the most important areas of market-­oriented management of new product development. We will discuss the product development process and the concepts, analytical frameworks, and managerial practices used in agile innovation development.

• Applies in this implementation:

  COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

  The ever-changing global economy and the resulting new market structures, competitive landscapes, and consumer demands requires businesses to distance from the familiar and to foster innovation and agility. The speed of disruption of the technological evolution, climate change and circular economy permeates companies and business models and causes businesses to rethink the ways they operate and innovate. 

  In this course, we explore business models and strategies that allow firms to operate and innovate to sustain their market position, capture new markets, and/or enhance their organizational effectiveness in order to respond to the changes in the surrounding world. We will discuss the importance of innovations for businesses and review different approaches to innovate. We will especially talk about the design thinking approach and apply it, and we will examine related frameworks, theories, and analysis techniques for creating break-through, user-centric and design-driven innovations. This course helps you to develop your creative potential by learning to address problems where not all knowledge is available at the outset. In fun, hands-on individual and group activities, you can test and train your innovative mindset and expertise.

  The course encompasses intensive content teaching sessions on the relevance of innovations and design thinking as an approach to generate breakthrough ideas for innovations, on ideating, empathizing, storytelling, rapid prototyping and testing. 

   

  COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 

  As a result of the learning activity, you will be able to 

  define innovation and recognize the importance of innovations in general

  explain importance of user-centric innovations in particular, and the need for a design thinking mindset

  explain key concepts and principles used in Design Thinking and identify relevant methods for empathizing, ideating, defining, prototyping, testing 

  apply the Design Thinking approach to generate human-centric solutions

  find that trial and error and/or failure are part of a valuable, creative innovation process

  recognize the importance and effectivity of other innovation processes, such as the New Products Process

  
  

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  Compulsory individual and course assignments.

  Autumn 2020:

  Group Assignment (40%)
  Individual Assignments (5%)
  Learning Diary (45%)
  In-session participation (10%)
  Mandatory attendance Nov 5, 17, Dec 1
  
  

  Assessment methods:

  Individual Pre-Ass. 1
  Learning Diary
  Group work

• Applies in this implementation:

  ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: 

  Please do not register to the course, if you are not planning to attend the sessions. This is because a significant part of the learning will take place through in-class interactions, assignments, discussions, and reflections. Because of this, an important part of your grade depends on your participation during the contact session and your participation in the group works, which is evaluated by your fellow students. Although course attendance is not mandatory in all lectures (see exceptions in the course schedule*), you are expected to attend all course sessions and evaluate your participation. It is impossible to gain a good overall grade, by not attending and participating in the contact sessions. (For further information, please view the sectionElaboration of the evaluation criteria and methods.). During the course sessions, I strongly encourage you to engage in and start discussions. Any questions (as long as they are appropriate) can and should be asked. 

  Further, I expect you to constantly check the MyCourses webpage (https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/view.php?id=23638) for new information and/or materials, outside the course. You should consider the MyCourses webpage as means to interact with your fellow students and your teacher(s), next to the content teaching sessions. 

  As a firm believer in human-centered design, I also expect you to regularly provide feedback to the course teacher and your fellow students. Only by getting an understanding of how you are seeing the course and/or the collaboration with your fellow students, I can try to find meaningful opportunities to improve the study experience for you, as can your fellow students. 

  *Please let me know as soon as possible if you have an acceptable reason for being absent (i.e. acute personal illness, medical appointment, court appointment, a family emergency, a funeral service, or a similar unavoidable engagement). Work duties, attending sports events, poor time management, assignments for other classes, or personal travel are not acceptable reasons. Missing a class does not excuse you from or change assignment due dates

  Grading

  On the course you can earn max. 100 points, ie. 100% of the grade. 

  Here's a rough breakdown for the grade (please check the assignment section for more details):

  Assignment	% of the final grade
  In-class exercises DT Challenge workshop	20%  10%
  Guest lecture reflections	20%
  Group project	50 %

  
  The points will be converted to the final grade as follows:
  
  

  Points (percentage)	Grade
  90 points and over	5
  80 to 89 points	4
  70 to 79 points	3
  60 to 69 points	2
  50 to 59 points	1
  49 points and under	Fail

   

  All assignments will be graded both on content and delivery; in oral assignments delivery refers to presentation skills and stucture, in written assignments stucturing, coherence, and appropriate style. For group assignment, a part of the grade is formed by peer-evaluation. 

  In addition, you may earn extra points for participation and contribution.

   

  Please note that 60% of the grade are made up of the Design Challenge, which consists of in-class workshops, group presentations, visual social media advertisement, and a group reflection paper. Therefore, the workshop will be held during the lecture sessions (please see schedule for exact dates). You and your group members can/should also detail, finalize, and create the rest of the group project outside the lecture sessions. The group presentations will be held on December 4^th. The teams are then asked to hand in a reflection essay on the Design Challenge and the methods used. 

  In addition, you are required to hand in an individual reflection paper on the work as a team during the DT Challenge, your individual participation and that of your group members. Please note that poor peer reviews would result in reductions of the grade you receive for the group work. Additionally, two essays on the two guest lectures would need to be submitted, for each you can score a max. number of 10 points. Please note that you also receive points (20% of course grade) for the in-class exercises conducted during the sessions (See below for the in-class exercise lectures. If you do not attend these lectures you won’t get the points). More information about the assignments can be found in Mycourses Assignment section.

  
  

Workload

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  • contact teaching
  • independent work
  • individual and group assignments

  Autumn 2020:

  Individual Pre-Ass. 1
  Learning Diary
  Group work

• Applies in this implementation:

  Workload

  6 credits equal approximately 160 hours of work. Class will make up 24 hours, so you will spend 136 hours reading, writing, and doing group work. 

  In the table below is a likely allocation of the hours:

  Activity	Hours required
  Lectures	24
  Preparation to class exercises &  other independent study	68
  Group work (includes all assignments)	68

  
  

DETAILS

Study Material

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  A collection of articles and book chapters assigned by the lecturer

• Applies in this implementation:

  DETAILS ON THE COURSE MATERIALS AND RESOURCES: 

  The relevant course materials are provided on MyCourses, as well (links to) additional reading and video material. Readings etc. are listed according to the session that they are relevant for. Should material be required for in-class exercises, it will be brought by the teacher(s). Otherwise an announcement will be made in advance. 

  
  

Substitutes for Courses

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  23C79000 New Product Development

Prerequisites

• Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:

  Attending the course requires the prior completion of Introduction to marketing (23A00110 or equivalent).

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

3 Good Health and Well-being

9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

12 Responsible Production and Consumption

17 Partnerships for the Goals

FURTHER INFORMATION

Details on the schedule

• Applies in this implementation:

  Details on the schedule 

  Mon 28.10.     Introduction, practicalities

  Wed 30.10.     Introduction to cases and dividing groups. 

  Mon 04.11.     Empathizing (In-class exercise)

  Wed 06.11.     Defining

  Mon 11.11.     Guest lecture (Frantic) (mandatory attendance)

  Wed 13.11.     Ideating (In-class exercise)

  Mon 18.11.     DT challenge workshop (mandatory attendance)

  Wed 20.11.     Prototyping & evaluating (In-class exercise)

  Mon 25.11.     Guest lecture (Nrep) (mandatory attendance)

  Wed 27.11.     DT challenge workshop (mandatory attendance)

  Mon 02.12.     Storytelling (Design Factory), preparing for pitches (In-class exercise)

  Wed 04.12.     Pitching (final group presentation) (mandatory attendance)

  
  

Description

Registration and further information