Interview sets I–III: from priming to implementation and experiencing

In Spring 2010, CS had been operating as a minor study program for almost one whole term, and curriculum preparation and funding were almost ready for the CS major. Following these preparation processes, the first interviews were conducted. This stage included four in-depth interviews supported by a survey form.

In the second stage, the educators, or teachers of the shared courses, were interviewed. This happened after the CS major had already been initiated and operated for more than a year, and included eight interviews with two follow-ups.

This time, interviews were organized as discussions around predefined themes, focusing on the experiences of teaching and on interprofessional sustainability as a context of action. As in this stage the program had been running for more than a year as a major, the development of CS was also discussed.

In the last stage, students of the CS Design program were interviewed after their first or second year of study. The students were selected for interviews based on their roles in certain student activities encountered in CS. This stage included six interviews and two follow-ups, with continuation until 2015. The idea was to gather understanding of these activities and the students’ involvement, and of how students connected to the knowledge-building and development in the program in general. Perceptions of important learning and the experiences of the learning journey in CS were also discussed, along with motivations and personal background. Lastly, CS as a community was reflected upon.

Interviews I (2010): CS initiators setting the stage

The first stage of the interviews concerned the initiators — the professors and academics who were involved in the preparations for the Master’s program. In these interviews, the focus was on understanding different approaches to urban sustainability and the possible professional differences in these approaches, and on understanding the setting in which the CS program would be grounded.

The interviewees were members of the CS preparations board and mainly in professorship positions (3/4) in two of the four schools that would soon initiate the program (see Table 15). The interviewees were from Aalto University's School of Business (Helsinki School of Economics at the time) and the former University of Industrial Arts Helsinki, that would eventually become the School of Arts, Design, and Planning. The selected interviewees were involved in the CS

preparation board and interested in being involved in this research, and allocating their time in in-depth interviews.

Table 15. Interviews with people involved in CS preparations.

Interview code

Interviewee background Interview date

#1 Postdoctoral researcher 10 May 2010

#2 Professor 17 May 2010

#3* Professor 23 May 2010

#4 Professor, Head of Department 21 June 2010

* Interview translated from Finnish by the author.

At the time, the themes in CS interaction centered on urban sustainability (sustainable solutions for products, services, and living environments in urban context), structured around the threefold dimensional model of sustainability (economic, ecological, sociocultural) and three professional areas involved in the program preparations (industrial management, business management, design and architecture). Consequently, the initiator interviews focused on the roles of different disciplines in approaching (urban) sustainability and seeking sustainable urban solutions (see Appendix 1).⁸⁵

In the talks that covered sustainability in urban contexts and from different professional perspectives, the idea was better to understand how various

professionals define the concept of sustainability and locate themselves, and how this connects to the setting up of CS as a study program.

Interviews II (2011–2013): the educators implementing the shared introductory studies

After the initial interviews, the actual launch of the CS program as a major took place in Fall 2010. The focus was on implementing the studies themselves: I was personally involved in teaching CS Design. However, after the first intensive year of the CS major, the focus of my research moved toward the actual teaching contents, too.

During the years 2011–2013, six teachers from the shared introductory courses and supplementary courses were interviewed, along with two follow-up interviews (see Table 16). Two interviews were also implemented with visiting guest teachers (of whom one was also a CS student). The shared introductory program to the CS major consisted of six to ten ECTS depending on the degree program, and ten credits for CS Design students (see sections 3.1.3 and 3.3.2 for details).

85 The interview structure and two of the first interviews (#1, #4) were planned and implemented together with Cindy Kohtala (see Marttila & Kohtala, 2010); two interviews (#2, #3) were conducted solely by the author.

Table 16. Interviews with teachers of shared CS introductory courses.

Interview code

Interviewee role Teaching activity in focus Interview date

#5 Teacher, doctoral

candidate Shared introductory course, 2011 20 Dec. 2011

#6b #6a Teacher Shared introductory course, 2011 21 Dec. 2011 8 March 2012

#7 Teacher, doctoral

candidate Shared introductory courses,

terms 2009–2012 6 March 2012

#8* Professor, teacher Shared introductory courses,

terms 2009–2012 15 March 2012

#9a

#9b Teacher Supplementary course, terms

2012–2013 31 March 2012

8 May 2013

#10 Teacher, doctoral

level Supplementary courses, terms

2012–2013 24 May 2013

#11* Guest teacher Shared introductory course, 2013 9 Oct. 2013

#12* Guest teacher Shared introductory course, 2013 13 Nov. 2013

* Interview translated from Finnish by the author.

The second series of interviews was structured around predefined broad themes that were given to the interviewee a day or two before the interview, and a more detailed document with some supportive questions, given at the interview itself (see Appendix 2). The thematic structure for the teacher interviews evolved slightly further during interviews. Initially (for interviews #5 and #6a) the discussion started with a focus on the general setting of the CS program, with reflection on interprofessionality and sustainability as a context for learning, to be followed by more in-depth inquiries related to teaching and the flow of learning.

Later on, the order was changed to begin with details about teaching: only at the end were broader CS concepts introduced.

The interviewed teachers acted in the development and implementation of the shared introductory course content, covering parts of the mandatory shared studies in CS between 2010 and 2013 (and partly later developments, up until Spring 2015). A lot of additional material in the form of student feedback or planning documents was also gathered for use in the overall analysis.

Interviews III (2013–2015): experiencing CS as a design student The final series of interviews focused on students from CS Design. The

interviewees were selected from CS Design because the focus of the inquiry was on the role of design as a discipline and practice, but also because the

Department of Design was the organizing party of the shared introductory studies, and both CS operations and directorship were located in the School of ARTS. The selected students had also been active in various CS activities.

The first encounters with active students (2012) were related to the Systems Thinking course and perceptions of the program offerings in general. Later on, the selection of interviewees progressed in a snowball-type sampling,⁸⁶ with the early interviewees identifying important student activities and potential future subjects.

Gradually, as more informal student activities were encountered, the focus in interviews moved from course content to student community development, also addressing various projects that the students were involved in. Altogether six students were interviewed in connection to various activities emerging from the student community (see Table 17; for more details, see section 4.3.1).

Table 17. Interviews with students from CS Design.

Interview

code Student’s

enrolment in Specific focus in interview Interview date

#13 2011 Development of CS courses and content 27 May 2013

#14 2011 Development of CS courses and content 31 May 2013

#15a*

#15b* 2010 Development of CS courses and

content; CS project at WDC Pavilion 24 June 2013 4 Feb. 2015

#16 2010 Development of CS student community 10 Oct. 2013

#17 2011 Development of CS student community 31 Oct. 2013

#18* 2011 Development of CS student community;

CS project at WDC Pavilion 26 Nov. 2013

* Interview translated from Finnish by the author.

The student interviews focused on three themes: activities in CS, motivations to be involved in CS activities, and being a CS student in general. Again, the themes of the interview were shared prior to the interviews, and a more refined sheet with sub-questions was available in the interview (see Appendix 3). One of the

interviewees also acted as a CS communications officer at the time, in a position opened up in 2012 after finding in CS management that more emphasis must be put on improving program communications (CS web pages, email lists, etc.) and on interactions with various gradually emerging program activities, both on a more formal (CS development activities) and informal (parties, etc.) level. Another interviewee acted as a student representative on the CS academic board that was initiated in 2012 to follow and develop the program content and outcomes.

The interviewed students were from two different years of intake: the two first interviews (#13, #14) were from the 2011 intake, the next two (#15, #16) from the very first year (2010), and then two again from 2011 (#17, #18). The idea was that these students had already experienced the joint CS studies that were part of the focus of the interviews.

86 In snowball sampling, each identified interviewee is asked to identify further suitable candidates.