Kursens beskrivning

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Recognise and analyse values as integral to design discourse and practice, in the general and the particular
• Critically discuss key issues and ideas relevant to design in futures inquiry
• Identify the stakes in the practices and discourses of change-making in the context of the sustainability imperative
• Use tools from futures studies to help articulate and critically reflect on how technology and culture, including values and worldviews, are manifested in design

In addition to these learning outcomes, students should be able to:

Communicate creative as well as critical futures

The course is designed to provide the theoretical background for taking the 2nd-year course, Sustainability transitions and futures.

Credits: 6

Schedule: 25.04.2024 - 30.05.2024

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Eeva Berglund, İdil Gaziulusoy

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  This course explores discourses and practices regarding futures and societal change through a suite of lectures and seminars together with group and independent tasks. Its starting point is that, acknowledged or not, design is profoundly engaged in shaping society through ideas and visions of the future. Today, as method and visual/material practice, design is increasingly used to imagine, explore, communicate and steer change. In so doing, it involves judgements about what is desirable and for whom, it requires working in contexts of potentially conflicting values and surfacing potentially salient issues around change-making. This course prepares students to be more sensitive to the values, ethics and politics of design by pointing to such frontiers in design. 

  The course consists of lectures, small-group seminars and substantial exercises involving reading, writing and visualising. The course is structured as a series of six 3-hour contact teaching sessions. The course combines perspectives from several disciplines, including but not limited to design research, history, anthropology, sustainability science and science and technology studies (STS).

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  • Attending the first contact teaching session is required.

  Assessment is based on

  • Participation in contact teaching sessions (at least 80% unless otherwise agreed).
  • Timely cmpletion of in-class and take-home assignments, individually and in groups, applying previous and new learnings to articulating issues around values in design futures.
  • Final reflective essay, presented in academic style and demonstrating familiarity with the course materials.

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  6 ECTS = 162 hours:

  18h Teaching sessions

  about 20h group work

  about 80h Reading and 44h individual coursework, written reflections and final essay, of which 10 - 20% time to think.

   

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Core literature and resources will be made available via the MyCourses system. Students are encouraged to explore related resources beyond these.

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

1 No Poverty

2 Zero Hunger

3 Good Health and Well-being

4 Quality Education

5 Gender Equality

6 Clean Water and Sanitation

7 Affordable and Clean Energy

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

10 Reduced Inequality

11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

12 Responsible Production and Consumption

13 Climate Action

14 Life Below Water

15 Life on Land

16 Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Spring V
  2023-2024 Spring V

  Enrollment :

  Registration for courses: Sisu.

  The order of priority for admitting students:
  Creative Sustainability major students;
  Creative Sustainability minor students;
  Department of Design masters students;
  Students for whom the course is part of his/her major's or programme's alternative studies and has been scheduled in the student's PSP (HOPS) for the current academic year;
  All other master students.

  Maximum number of students: 30
  Minimum number of students: 15

  Priority order to courses is according to the order of priority decided by the Academic committee for School of Arts, Design and Architecture, https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/registering-to-courses-and-the-order-of-priority-at-aalto-arts 

Beskrivning