Course Description

Course unit 1: The Aesthetic Creative Area (30 ECTS)

Course unit 1 consists of two areas, which mutually enrich each other:

a Creative and artistic work

• Creative and artistic work based on one or more forms of expression such as images, sculpture and installation, utility objects and design, architecture and the physical environment
• Creative and artistic work viewed in relation to idea, content, function and context illustrated through studies of form, colour, space and composition, as well as materials and techniques
• Strategy and methods for creative and artistic work:
  • Awareness of one’s own position
  • Self as a research instrument
  • Intuitive and analytical approaches
  • Problematisation, delimiting and documentation of process and product.

b.Art theory

• Various positions in contemporary aesthetic thinking
• Art theory related to forms of expression during the contemporary period and chosen historical period
• Main trends of contemporary art
• Special characteristics of the aesthetic area:
  • Art as a form of cognition: understanding and experiencing art
  • Perceiving and thinking
  • The importance of beauty
  • Aesthetic communication: Experience, analysis and understanding
• The special characteristics of pictorial art, aesthetic objects and utility objects and architecture related to knowledge of:
  • Form, colour, space and composition – forms of expression and use
  • Materials, techniques and tools – forms of expression and use

Course unit 2: The Pedagogical and Didactic Area (12 ECTS)

Courseunit 2 consists of four topics:

aBasic didactic problems

• Main pedagogical trends and basic didactic problems
• An examination of important concepts such as:
  • Experience and action
  • Basic skills in the subject area
  • Education, knowledge and cultural transference
  • Creative activity
  • Aesthetic education

bCurriculum theory and knowledge of the subject

• Construction of curricula and implementation
• Analysis of plans and practice
• History of the subject in recent times

c Cultural understanding, cultural transference and culture-building

• Cultural theory and cultural understanding
• Cultural transference, and dissemination of art
• Multicultural aspects of the subject area
• Culture-building (creative) activities
• The double didactic aspect and formation of identity

d The teacher as organiser of the meeting between cultural material and creative and artistic work

• The teacher’s task in disseminating culture and as a leader of the pupils’ creative and artistic work
• Relevant perspectives on learning
• School textbooks and learning tools
• Supervision and assessment

Course unit 3: Scientific Theory and Methodology Area (18 ECTS)

Course unit 3 contains three topics in which both scientific theory and methodology are related to the special characteristics of design, art and handicrafts as a field of research.

a Knowledge of the most important trends in scientific theory

This topic focuses on the various fields of science:

• Research in the field of the natural sciences
• Research in the field of the humanities
• Research in the field of social sciences

An examination of various approaches:

• Positivism
• Hermeneutics
• Phenomenology

b Knowledge of the principal methods of research within the subject field

• The research methods for the relevant subject areas
• Design, art and handicrafts as a field of research, strategy and use of methodology
• Design in the research process: choice of research question, theoretical foundation, methodology, methods of analysis and forms of documentation
• Elementary statistics

c Examination of, and experience using, chosen methodology in R & D project

• Collection of material for the student’s R & D project
• Examination of specific methodology for the R & D project
• Knowledge pertaining to drafting and documentation of the student’s R & D project.
• Critical analysis of a specific research report

Assessment Methods

Continuous assessment

Course unit: The Aesthetic Creative Area:

• Project assignment 1. First semester. A part-assessment: Pass/fail.
• Art theory: Individual written assignment, 3 days. Second semester. Part assessment. Pass/fail.

Course unit: Scientific Theory and Methodology Area

• Project assignment 3, R & D project undertaken in groups: written report, visual and oral presentation. Second semester. part-assessment: Pass/fail. Seminar related to a critical analysis of a research report. Second semester. Part-assessment. Pass/fail.

Students will receive continual assessment of their assignments. The part-assessments must be assessed as passed by the subject teacher(s) before the candidate may take the final examinations.

Final assessment

The final examinations and assignments will provide the basis for the final grade which will be graded from A to F, where A is the highest grade and E is the lowest passing grade. Assessment criteria and instructions concerning the grade scale have been drafted into a document.

Course unit: Aesthetic Creative Area:

• Creative and artistic work: Project assignment 2. First semester. 20%.
• Creative and artistic work: Project assignment 4 (pilot project for Master’s Thesis), with oral examination. Second semester. 40%

Course unit: The Pedagogical and Didactic Area and Scientific Theory and Methodology Area:

• Individual written assignment, 4 days, second semester. 40%.

A total grade will be given for a successfully completed general part in which each course unit must receive a passing grade. The final assessment represents 60 ECTS. This must be completed before work may be started on the Master’s Thesis.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean