The teaching of the core courses will be arranged as workshops. These workshops will be held 1-2 times a month, on Fridays. As a result, the lecture attendance will not influence the attendance with other courses.
Great ideas are formed when we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. The teaching in MediaBizLab utilizes a variety of teaching methods that involve hands-on-work by students with little emphasis on lecturing. Most contact sessions are workshops facilitated by Aalto University academics or by other experts in their own fields. Students prepare for workshops in teams by conducting research and advancing their media service development projects. In each session, students pitch their research, work and ideas to peers in order to receive feedback and fresh insights. Furthermore, following the principles of open innovation, we use different platforms of social media and online collaboration, wherein we all teach each other to enhance the learning experience and enable continuous feedback. In the beginning of the spring, we will also take a study trip abroad in order to grasp new ideas and best practices as well as to strengthen the group spirit.
The core of the program consists of four modules; Creativity, Commercialization I and II and Proof of Concept. During the fall periods, students will complete two interrelated and overlapping modules. In the first module, Commercialization I, students research trends related to media, technology, business, and consumer culture in general in order to draw insight into consumer practices, cultures and media consumption. This will be of great importance regarding the second module, Creativity, which aims at generating innovative ideas based on a sophisticated understanding of consumers, media and business as well as providing students with skills to facilitate the creative process of ideation. Based on the ideas and understanding accumulated in these workshops, students will eventually learn how to turn great ideas into actual service concepts
During the spring periods, students will engage in further concept development and testing. The third module, proof-of-concept, aims at finding ways to test the service ideas and developing a simple functional prototype. Simultaneously, within Commercialization II, students engage in business plan development. Here, all the hanging threads are brought together as services cannot be designed without understanding the whole: how do we create value for the end-user, how does the service address those needs, and what would be an optimal and feasible way to deliver that value both from a usability and business model perspective.
23E76000 Creativity, 3 ECTS
In completing this course, the student will learn the principles of creative thinking and practice. The aims are to teach the student about (1) foundations of creative thinking in work communities (2) how to foster creativity in practice (3) tools and methods in creative idea generation and screening (4) facilitation of innovation processes, and (5) producing and developing of ideas through group work.
The course describes a series of tools, methods and conceptual frameworks for generating, enhancing and managing creative thinking and practices.
23E78000 Commercialization I, 23E78001 Commercialization II
After completing the module, students will be able to plan and carry out commercialization of media as services. The student understands how an in-depth analysis of everyday life practices and culture links with the use of marketing frameworks in the context of commercializing media services. Moreover, the student will learn about the principles of conducting ethnographic market research and to develop a business plan for their media service based on thorough consumer and market insight. Students are able to design and implement marketing programs as well as for pitching and presenting to various partners at industry fairs and sales meetings.
Students will understand the evolution of the media industry from a societal, cultural technological and business perspective leading to the emerging market of media services. The foundations of service development lie in insight into everyday cultural practices in media consumption as well as an understanding of basic human needs and motivation to participate social networking. The business model consists both of an understanding of how the creates value to the audience and how the content is monetized with an array of earning and pricing models. The content, service concept, and business model are developed concurrently in an iterative fashion with investment milestones based on real-life evidence of consumer interest. Several marketing theories and tools (e.g., positioning maps, competitor analysis, and market potential estimation) are explained to foster understanding of how uncultivated media service ideas can be critically assessed and developed into viable business opportunities. Furthermore, communications also deal with sales activities such as pitching and presenting to various partners, such as investors or distributors.
23E77000 Proof of Concept, 3 ECTS
The student understands how mock-ups can be used as tools in the design process of digital media services, and for presenting the concepts and communicating about them. The student has skills in evaluating and further improving media service concepts with the aid of commercial and visual proofs of concepts.
The course is about learning to evaluate the media service concepts through the use of commercial and technical/visual proofs of concept. How the service concept can be developed and further improved with the aid of a proof of concept. How a proof of concepts aid in communicating about the concept within the design team, in testing the concept, and in applying for funding.