Experience Economy and Product Development (5 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

Experience Economy and Product Development course is introducing the nature of experience economy and it is focused on practical designing and analyzing experience products in tourism business. Students learn the special characteristics of products and services within tourism industry. Product design model for practical product development is studied.

After completing the course students are able to:

Understand the nature of product development in tourism business
Apply the experience product design tools in product development process
Analyze the existing products and to improve the quality of experience products

Content (course unit)

Which are the characteristics of tourism products and services?

How to apply experience design tools in tourism product development in practice?
How to analyze the existing experience products and how to improve them?

Prerequisites (course unit)

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Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2) (course unit)

The student recognises the specific nature of product development in experience / tourism business. He/she is able to explain the process of tourism product development using design tools. The student is able to participate in analysing and improving tasks of existing experience products in a team, taking responsibility of his/her own performance.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4) (course unit)

The student can clearly explain various aspects of the nature of product development in experience / tourism business. The student is able to do basic product analysis and apply a product design tool in the context of the experience / tourism business. The student participates actively and responsibly in the teamwork taking responsibility of team performance. The student is capable of receiving and giving feedback actively and constructively.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5) (course unit)

The student is able to analyse thoroughly an existing experience product and to find and evaluate different tools appropriate for the problem at hand. He/she is able to apply the design tools in product development taking into account the specific business needs and develop highly original or innovative ideas. The student takes a leading role in a team, working in a responsible, flexible and constructive way developing the group's interaction.

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

The course is an advanced course about experience economy, as it continues the 1st year's Introduction to Experience Economy. Now the focus is put into concrete application of the lessons learned - experience economy thinking & doing - in authentic product development work. The students learn about the characteristics of tourism and other experiential products and services, the most applicable and relevant practical experience design tools, and they get to both analyze existing / possible experience products and services - but also learn to improve them in practice.
The course includes a concrete product development project to be completed in small groups. Also, the course is based on joint teacher driven online sessions, individual reading and material search, and group work for discussions and the main assignment.

Learning materials

See Moodle page for the most relevant material on experience economy (at this point of your studies). Also additional inspirational material will be given by the teacher during lectures. It is recommended that the student also acquires own suitable material for one's own learning and the task at hand.

Student workload

5 ECTS equals 133 hours of student work, as 1 ECTS credit = 26,7 hours. The work load is divided between joint teacher driven sessions as well as group and individual work approximately online contact session (5 x 3 h = 15 hours), individual reading tasks and material search (~20 hours) and group work assignment (~100 hours). So, the student should find about 2,5 work week's time within a time frame of 2,5 months to complete the main assignment done in small groups.
Online contact sessions:
10.9. ZOOM 11-14 Introduction to the course and Experience Economy and Experience Design tools; discussions in small groups
17.9. ZOOM 11-14 Experience Pyramid model and applying theory into practice
8.10. ZOOM 11-14 Check point, coaching
29.10. Check point, coaching
26.11. Team task Presentations

The student selects a case as a small group to be analyzed/developed applying experience Pyramid model in practice, most likely the case is agreed with a commissioner company or community by the teacher. The task includes a report and a presentation as a group effort.

Content scheduling

The course covers experience economy and experience design broadly both in theory and in practice. Key content areas are described in more detail in Moodle. In general, the course discusses the why, the how and the what of experience economy and experience design.

Completion alternatives

No alternative means of completion.

Practical training and working life cooperation

The teacher tries to agree a concrete development project cooperation, and the students will be informed about this cooperation and the commissioner and the case task at hand on the first online session.

Further information

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