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)

-

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.

Location and time

See Moodle course (published in August)

Exam schedules

No exam, team presentation to be assessed

Assessment methods and criteria

Team presentation as an otcome of the course. See assessment criteria.

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. The focus is in practical application of the lessons learned - experience economy thinking & doing - in authentic product development work. The students learn about the characteristics of experiential products and services, relevant practical experience design tool, and they get to both analyze existing / possible experience products and services - and learn to improve them in practice.
The course includes a practical product development project to be completed in small teams. Also, the course is based on teacher driven f2f and online sessions, individual reading and material search, and team work for discussions and the main assignment, presenting a project task outcome.

Learning materials

See Moodle page (published in August) for the most relevant material on experience economy. Also additional inspirational material will be given. 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 135 hours of student work. The work load is divided between teacher driven sessions as well as team and individual work , individual reading tasks and material search.

The student selects a case as a small group to be analyzed/developed applying experience Pyramid model in practice.

Content scheduling

See Moodle course (published in August)

Completion alternatives

No alternative means of completion.

Practical training and working life cooperation

Teams are recommended to contact their possible project commissioners

International connections

International student teams and project commissioners possible

Further information

Passing the course requires active team working and submitting tasks in time. NOTE: team outcome, presentation, is to be assessed. Team members receive the same grade.

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

No participating in team working, tasks are not submitted or are submitted very late in Moodle, task description is not followed, no applying academic literature.

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Participating team working is poor/superficial. Student is able to produce text, but there are hardly any academic references. Experience Economy is not understood/identified completely. Lack/mistakes in applying and justifying (tourist segment and profile, business environment, trends/values/society etc.) Experience Pyramid (elements and levels) in case X. No original or innovative ideas presented. Lack in presentation contents (essential contents) in logic order.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Participating team working is active. Student is able to produce text with several academic references. Experience Economy is understood/identified. Applying and justifying (tourist segment and profile, business environment, trends/values/society etc.) Experience Pyramid (elements and levels) in case X is mostly covered. Original or innovative ideas presented. Presentation contents (essential contents) in logic order is on a good level.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Participating team working is very active. Student is able to produce text with variety of academic references. Experience Economy is understood/identified analytically. Applying and justifying (tourist segment and profile, business environment, trends/values/society etc.) Experience Pyramid (elements and levels) in case X is applied on a professional way. Highly original, innovative and unique ideas are presented and justified. Presentation contents (essential contents) in logic order is on an excellent level. Company co-operation is clearly active.