Summarizing emerging themes from the experiencing phase in CS Design

In the student interviews, the topical structure focused on the activities of the students themselves, their motivations for being involved, and their perceptions of being a student in CS in general, also addressing topics of interdisciplinarity and sustainability, as well as the development of the CS community. The overall focus was on understanding how involvement in CS had been experienced, and to what type of profession it had led. At the beginning of the program, students were very motivated to be involved, driven by both their personal interest and the openness and novelty of the program. Looking at the study journey of the students, for many it lasted perhaps longer than expected, but was nevertheless perceived as successful.

According to the interviews, for many CS students, sustainability was “like a mindset, more like a lifestyle, and the way you use things” [#14]; for many others, however, it was just as an important aspect in future professional work. After graduation, the active student who was involved in producing the video feedback and in initiating various activities started a graphic design agency with a

sustainability emphasis; another also eventually worked as CS communications officer before moving into the industrial design industry, following the other interviewee who worked in the position during research. Of the three remaining, two are now doctoral students, and the last one has moved back to her home country. Nevertheless, all of the interviewees still have a strong sustainability emphasis in their current work, and this is true for many other CS alumni as well (see afterword).

During the first few years of study — and through the involvement in various program (and self-initiated) activities — new professionalism and community started to emerge for students in CS Design. After experiencing the CS content and community, the students grew to know CS as their second family, and argued for a special type of approach to collaboration and learning based on open, iterative, and consensus-building interdisciplinarity, extending to transdisciplinary outreach between schools and outside actors. Overall, the following five themes were elaborated (see Table 38).

Learning to swim in complexity

The range of advanced studies in CS is rather broad, and many of the CS Design students have also participated in more content than necessary credit-wise. In many ways, the students have followed their path from one course to another based on other students’ experiences and encounters with teaching staff. In students’ words, CS just “throws you into the chaos, and... waits for you to learn swim in it” [#17]: “it's about stepping out from your comfort zone, and being comfortable beyond that.” Such freedom of choice also relates to the nature of the subject of study — interprofessional collaboration — and the crossing of the boundaries of one’s professional and personal knowledge.

Getting to know the complexity in studies themselves has pulled people together, and the interviewee describes how he and two other students even “booked one of the meeting rooms [to] go through all the course options and figure out what's there we could take that might be interesting” [#17]. However, as the interviewee describes it, for some people such freedom of choice can be debilitating. This freedom of choice “probably has” also affected the length of studies [#17]. Yet this is perceived as a positive thing, as “pressure to complete a certain set of courses”

would “prevent you from taking something else that you find interesting” [#17]. For the CS students, the possibility of studying more than was required for the grade has been a common interest. On the way, they have also gained knowledge for their thesis projects, many of which describe CS as an important component in learning.

Access to and support from CS

Overall, there has been constant support from the program side to promote student activities and the various activities that could strengthen the student community. The CS program director, whose office was located on the Arabia campus, was always supportive according to talks with both staff and students.

In part, it was also acknowledged that when students are active, they are often

“directly or indirectly promoting the program” [#17]. Interaction in creating new content was supported, but at the same time students felt that their contribution to CS development was not always acknowledged. In approaching support from the student perspective, there are “two types of support” [#14]. One is material and financial support for student activities themselves, “like just buying the food and beverages during those CS movies or open lectures” [#14], or easy access to booking a room. The other type of support for activities is “rewarding at some point” those students who organize activities [#14]. Suggestions to get study

credits were identified, and some given, under CS projects; however, only participation in more formal events and projects was credited in the end.

Projects as stepping stones

For most of the students interviewed, encounters in various projects (in relation to shared courses, CS projects, or research) are described as crucial in developing relationships between fellow students and developing the active CS student community. Even conflicts that take place in project work (for example, in the SUD course in 2011) are mentioned as creating grounds for further collaboration and later “laughed at together” [#15]. In many ways, the student activities were also started as projects, tied to certain people for a certain period of time. Some student-initiated content developed into formal CS project content, and some was even made into official course content (such as the Design for Government course; see section 3.3.2). Project collaborations, however, connected students selectively, based on their year of intake, disciplinary background, and overall interest in being involved. For example, even the most active students admitted being completely unaware of some CS projects that others found very influential (e.g., in relation to the WDC 2012 projects; see section 4.3.1). In this sense, while participation in projects in advanced studies created new networks and

knowledge for students, sometimes it was difficult to connect the learning back to the program or its future students.

Projects also act as stepping stones in developing professional skills and

preparing ideas for the thesis works. However, projects can also feel a bit artificial with their study period-based schedules, and this does not prepare students “for long-term project development” [#15]. For students who contribute greatly in the teamwork, the lack of continuation can be experienced as a failure. In this sense, students also identify a need for some project content with “an organic beginning and end” [#15]; in some ways, they themselves develop such content by

continuing the talks through the student association or other student interest in CS. From a student perspective, the CS studies themselves can be perceived as a project, connecting encounters and content in the development of professional practice.

Becoming a community change agent

During the first year of CS as a major (2010), the student base was small and the encounters more random, not around scheduled activities. However, in 2011, more students enrolled (some very active) and the ability to utilize AMF spaces as CS student space was granted. According to one interviewee, “what makes us together” in the CS community “is that we have some events organized by students in CS” [#13]. The active CS students were also active in their outreach toward other programs and even outside actors. For many, CS was perceived as another family. During the participation in collaborative activities and learning, the students had connected as a community. Many of the students were also interested in developing CS as a program. One of the interviewees mentions a

“champion model” (see Crawford, 2001): “you need a person, at least one person, that has passion for leading the work” [#15]. These champions were found from

among both students and staff. According to the interviewee, “it somehow feels … that each year a group is kind of found [amongst students] that is more attached to the lifestyle” of sustainability [#15]. These people were also interested in

developing the CS content according to what they perceived as important.

However, not all students were active. Each year, some students took an active role in the community [#15, #17], and after a few sessions and events “some people stay,” with most leaving, and “again after the second year batch, and third”

[#15], eventually forming a group of students continuing interaction within the student community from one year to the next. Being involved in such community activities is “kind of like reciprocal outreach” [#14]. The active students “should kind of get something… back, and the same amount” [#14]. In the end, student activities were partially supported through gaining credits, but this was not the primary motivation, as people often took part only in some phases, and only a few were getting credits in the end. For many, the involvement itself was sufficient motivation, and a chance to develop CS motivated further.

Building a community for interprofessional practice

The interviewed CS students also identify themselves as a bit of a “special group”

in academia [#15], not only in the way they approach problems of sustainability and interprofessional collaboration, but also as experts on diversity around their topics. In student replies, it is also acknowledged, that “only a few of our teachers have so diverse a background that is, like, offered to us” [#15]. Not only is design skill needed, such as in media or graphics design, communication, and

workshopping, but also skills for bringing in all perspectives. Often this means more critical discussions and a more open approach to collaboration with whoever wants to contribute. Generally, students seem to like interprofessional collaboration as it “broadens your way of thinking and you are in constant learning,” although “it may be a long and stressful process” (Marttila, 2012, p. 1153). For many, this created frustration on the way, but was at the same time one main component in future professionalism.

This process continues toward a shared direction, and some people stick to it, eventually forming a community of active actors around various CS activities.

Amongst such groups, there is at least partially a shared direction for activity, but many of them can also coexist around varied interests. As one interviewee puts it, the students involved in CS development have “been pretty good, I guess, so far in...

sort of collective decision-making, and whatever, without any problems” [#17]. In the end, despite their heterogeneity, the CS students form a sort of collective

approach.

Many of the CS students have been intentionally applying to a multidisciplinary program around sustainability (as in section 3.3.3). In this respect, they represent a group that is open to multidisciplinary or even transdisciplinary processes and practices, and already at the beginning sharing strong interests and motivations regarding sustainability. Overall, the interviewed students were all in some way motivated to develop the CS community and content, and perceived support from the program management.

Table 38. Identified themes of interest in interviews III: students.

Theme Description Example instance(s)

Learning to swim

in complexity CS study content is per-ceived to be exhaustively

“I booked one of the meeting rooms in the Media Factory for a couple of hours, so that we could sit down, with our laptops, and go through all the course options […] And we did not get anywhere” [#17]

“we also, in [another city], have like a pretty unclear [degree] program… in a sense that it gives so many possibili-ties… which I consider as a strength”

[#18]

“I guess it was good in a way, that I could get away without having a study plan, because then if a course popped up from nowhere, you could just pounce on it and take it” [#17]

Access to and

support from CS Access to develop CS and support for various activities has been con-stant, and yet students perceive that their ideas are not always heard.

“I was really glad to see that now, just as a student, I can do it here, and that Aalto and the Media Factory provide all these possibilities” [for organizing student activities] [#14]

[The student-driven activities] “were self-initiated, but they were supported by the program as well” [#13]

[The program director] “seems quite happy that students are active, and I suppose whether directly or indirectly promoting the program” [#17]

[however,] “maybe it's going to take a few years to find out if that workshop actually fed into anything [...] at least it happened” [#17]

Projects as

stepping stones Projects are identified as something that welds

“after the Whose Issues? project kicked off... and [another student]

got interested in that... and he was working at the Pavilion, and made that connection […] and then, we just happened to end up on the same pro-ject in France” [#17]

“interest towards other's projects and also the, like, shared projects […]

people have found each other here, and... realized that they can compen-sate each other’s know-ho, and create more collaboratively than would be possible alone” [#18]

Table 38. (continued…)

Theme Description Example instance(s)

Becoming a community change agent

For many CS students, there has been a strong motivation to develop the CS community and content according to their sustainability inter-ests.

[In CS,] “the students are active. They are always going to help” [#16]

“I don't know, maybe the program fos-ters some kind of sense of responsibil-ity... to whoever the new students might be” [#17]

“for me, it's like the priority, the edu-cation […] can play a really visible role in awareness, caring about things that people usually don't care about”

[#13]

“everything that is done in the pro-gram is taking it in some direction...

and everything that has been made, like, acts as a kind of resource … for future development” [#18]

Building a community for interprofessional (design) practice

Gradually, a new profes-sionalism has emerged, focusing on interprofes-sional mediation and collaboration in design.

“we are a special group… Only a few of our teachers have so diverse a background that is, like, offered to us”

[#15]

“our field is one of the central fields that represents some new design thinking” [#18]

“I don't know if it's an expertise, though [laughs] unless that counts as an expertise, discussing tricky topics”

[#17]