Topic outline

  • General

    Key details

    • Teacher in charge: Ville Eloranta
    • Course Language: English
    • Location: Online learning environment + 1 meeting + 1 presentation in Aalto University Otaniemi campus (see dates and times from 5. Schedule)


    1. Course overview

    IDBM Challenge (Fitech version) is the introductory course for new Fitech minor students of the IDBM programme. The course brings together students from diverse educational backgrounds. Through theoretical explorations and practical experiments, the students acquire the skills to conceptualize, develop, and introduce ethically and commercially sustainable approaches to complex societal challenges. The course involves intensive reflection, from individual, team, and collective perspectives.


    2. Prerequisites

    None.


    3. Learning Outcomes

    After the course, the participants should be able to

    • Identify and analyze the dynamics between the individual, the team, and the community, in the context of creative transdisciplinary problem solving
    • Identify and analyze the reasoning and practice of design-driven ways to solving ill-defined problems
    • as a team, collectively apply the problem-solving methods to a real-life societal challenges
    • as a team, collectively create a solution to the challenge
    • individually and collectively reflect the design outcomes and the learning progress


    4. Course tasks

    • A pre-assignment (2 articles to be read, see “Readings”)
    • Reading articles, book chapters and watching videos. See “Readings”.
    • Participating workshops (3x online and 1 offline in Otaniemi). (Note: max. 1 absence for online workshops due to the teamwork-related learning objectives; Otaniemi meeting mandatory).
    • Participating online mentoring sessions (1x team mentoring, 1x personal mentoring)
    • Large project work in transdisciplinary teams (Instructions given on week 1 of the course)
    • Smaller individual and team assignments (Instructions given during the course)
    • Participating rehearsal presentation (online)
    • Participating final presentation (@Otaniemi 27.11.) (mandatory)


    5. Schedule

    (dates and venues are fixed, exact content subject to change)

    NOTE: Travel costs to Espoo are reimbursed by Fitech (reasonable costs: e.g. cheapest train ticket). Also, if one-way travel time to Helsinki central station is over 3 hours, Aalto will cover overnight costs Sunday-Monday (1 night, costs up to certain limit). If you would like to take overnight opportunity, contact asap anna-mari.saari@aalto.fi. 


    WEEK 1

    Monday 28.10., 10-18, @ Otaniemi (Otakaari 5, A Grid, 4th floor, F210a/Cerberus)

    • Discussing pre-readings
    • Forming teams
    • Exploring teamwork and conflict management in design teams
    • Challenge brief (teamwork task) 

    Wednesday 30.10., 12-15 @ Online environment

    • Exploring and analyzing reflective thinking and writing.
    • Introducing design thinking

    Other tasks during the week

    • Article reading
    • Small writing and commenting tasks in online environment
    • Writing a learning diary (DL next week’s Monday 4.11.). 


    WEEK 2

    Wednesday 6.11., 11-14 @ Online environment

    • Extending our knowledge on design thinking (methods, analysis and critique) 

    Date and time to be agreed with the individual students @ Online environment

    • Personal mentoring session (0,5h)

    Other tasks during the week

    • Independent teamwork in own team
    • Article reading
    • Small writing and commenting tasks in online environment
    • Writing a learning diary (DL next week’s Monday 11.11.).

     

    WEEK 3 

    Wednesday 13.11., 11-14 @ Online environment

    • Resourcing in co-design (sharing ideas across teams, designing together) 

    Other tasks during the week

    • Independent teamwork in own team
    • Article reading
    • Writing a learning diary (DL next week’s Monday 18.11.)

    WEEK 4

    Mon 18.11. 15-16 @ Online environment

    • Team mentoring session 1 (1h) 

    Wed 20.11. 18-18.45 @ Online environment

    • Rehearsal presentation (Presentation length 10min + q&a. To be evaluated.) (Session time 45min) 

    Other tasks during the week

    • Independent teamwork in own team
    • Article reading

    WEEK 5

    Wednesday 27.11., 10.00-11.30 @ Otaniemi (BIZ/T003)

    • Final presentations and course closing 

    Other tasks during the week

    • Independent teamwork in own team
    • Writing a team report (DL Wednesday 4.12.).


    6. Evaluation 

    • Individual reflections (learning diaries)
    • Rehearsal presentation
    • Final presentation
    • Participation
    • Team report

    Exact details (evaluation and grading) presented in the first contact session).

     

    7. Workload 

    5 ECTS = 135h (including contact session, online sessions, teamwork, and individual work).

     

    8. Readings 

    Book chapters will be sent to students one week before course kick-off. All academic articles are available online.

    Pre-readings (to be read for the first session)

    Brown, D. M. (2013). Designing together: The collaboration and conflict management handbook for creative professionals. Pearson Education.(Pages: xxviii-xx and 1-18)

    Johnson Vickberg, S. M., & Christfort, K. (2017). The new science of team chemistry. Harvard Business Review (available:https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-science-of-team-chemistry) 

    Reading of the 1st week

    Dorst, K. (2015). Frame innovation: Create new thinking by design. MIT Press. (Pages 1-11) 

    Dorst, C. H., Kaldor, L., Klippan, L., & Watson, R. (2016). Designing for the common good. BIS publishers. (selected pages between 139 and 180)

    Reading of the 2nd week

    Dorst, K. (2015). Frame innovation: Create new thinking by design. MIT Press. (pages 80-87, 173-175)

    Ylirisku, S., Buur, J., & Revsbæk, L. (2016). Resourcing in co-design. In Proceedings of the DRS2016 conference, Design Research Society. (Available:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Salu_Ylirisku/publication/305809782_Resourcing_in_Co-Design/links/57a2cec008aeef8f311fc1d1.pdf)

    Reading of the 3rd and 4th week

    Micheli, P., Wilner, S. J., Bhatti, S. H., Mura, M., & Beverland, M. B. (2019). Doing design thinking: Conceptual review, synthesis, and research agenda. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 36(2), 124-148. (Available:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pietro_Micheli/publication/327054702_Doing_Design_Thinking_Conceptual_Review_Synthesis_and_Research_Agenda/links/5b992bce4585153105826d65/Doing-Design-Thinking-Conceptual-Review-Synthesis-and-Research-Agenda.pdf)

     

    9. Other materials

    IDBM Nordic Rebels videos (recommended!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrGXgBKLlU
    In this video, Katharina talks to Emilia, who highlights the importance of honoring yourself. She also touches on the Finnish notion of “sisu”, and how you can become the hero of your own life. Starting on an intense journey like this IDBM Challenge, you get deeply focused on the wicked problems you’re tackling. Emilia provides a gentle reminder at the start of this journey that you have to take care of yourself too. 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxMn-IfLlL4
    In this episode, Katharina and Esa Saarinen talk about teams, courage, compassion and living the good life. It can often be a challenge to take on wicked problems, while working with new people from a variety of backgrounds and in a new environment. So how do you ensure you keep an open mind and work effectively together? Esa provides his perspective on how to navigate this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzZsJhTys7g
    In this episode, Katharina had a chat with Paul D. Savage about authenticity and meaningful. The talk is all about the agency to choose what kind of meaning we give to events, things, and people.

     

    10. Grading Scale

    0-5

     

    11. Further Information

    Dr. (tech) Ville Eloranta, ville.eloranta@aalto.fi

    Office: Aalto University, Otaniemi Campus Väre, 2nd floor (IDBM).

    Office Hours: on request.