Learning platform and teaching in practice

The Master in Strategic Communication has been designed in such a way that the courses and work on these will help students progress towards the intended learning outcomes for the programme.

Each course has been created to showcase the breadth of knowledge, skills and general expertise, reflecting the field. Some of the courses focus more on learning outcomes, while others focus on developing specific skills and others include several skills at the intersection between theory and practice. This is reflected in teaching.

The working, teaching and assessment methods for each course have been selected to provide an appropriate and meaningful correlation between the desired learning outcomes, the teaching methods used and the final examination at the end of the course.

The methodological choices also reflect the contribution of the course to the programme of study as a whole. Students will therefore encounter varied learning activities during their period of study, a variation that, overall, will reflect the field for which students are training.

The Master in Strategic Communication emphasises students learning to use relevant methods from research and professional/artistic development. This will help students to complete an independent, delimited research or development project or artistic work through the master degree programme, under supervision and in line with prevailing academic and ethical standards. To ensure this, teaching will, among other things, emphasise and comment, illustrate and elaborate material from the syllabus and provide guidance and additional material not available in print.

As with all higher education, Kristiania University of Applied Sciences sets out requirements concerning students’ independent learning work. Kristiania assumes responsibility for facilitating students’ work through properly designed learning. It must be noted that a teacher can only disseminate and facilitate. The actual learning takes place on the part of the individual student and will be the result of students’ own work. In terms of the teaching, students must therefore expect to make a significant personal contribution.

The most important working, teaching and assessment methods that students on the Master in Strategic Communication programme will encounter are described below:

Lectures/presentations, instruction, non-specific supervision and other teacher-led activity.
Supervision and formative assessments.
Case, group and/or project work
Workshops and seminars
Independent practice/lab work/practical work, individually or in groups
Other student activities, including presentations, plenary discussions, dissemination
Study groups and assignment work
Independent academic work with the syllabus, etc.

Students who require supervision outside of scheduled teaching may access Kristianias resources, including administrative staff, librarians, digital learning resources (e.g. online films) and student supervisors. These may be contacted by individual students as needed.

In addition to literature and assistance with literature searches, the library also offers various training courses in academic writing.

Examination and assessment methods
An assessment refers to a situation in which a submitted or presented piece of work is assessed against a set of criteria. The criteria are set by the learning outcomes defined for each course. Assessments may be performed by fellow students, teachers or examiners. These generally lead to feedback, either for the purpose of guidance or as a grade (examinations).

At Kristiania University of Applied Sciences, we distinguish between assessment as learning, assessment for learning and assessment of learning. The format of the assessed work (format of assessment) may be the same in all three of these assessment scenarios but the purpose varies.

The purpose of assessment as learning (peer assessment) and for learning (feedback from the teacher) is to create a learning process in order to help students achieve the best possible learning outcomes. We consider these types of assessment to be part of our teaching methods.

The assessment of learning is a final assessment in which the actual learning outcomes achieved are assessed through an examination. At Kristiania University of Applied Sciences, examinations are defined as follows: “An examination is a final assignment within a course or a limited sub-course”. The submitted or presented work will be assessed by an examiner and the outcomes of the assessment will be included in the grade transcript.

Students on the Master in Strategic Communication programme may encounter the following examination methods:

Supervised examination
Home examination
Portfolio examination
Semester assignment
Master’s thesis
Production examination
Oral examination

Compulsory activities are defined for certain courses. A compulsory activity is a coursework requirement that must be approved before a student can register to sit an examination. Such activities may include requirements for one or more works to be submitted (coursework requirements) and/or requirements for participation in defined activities and/or lectures and/or compulsory supervised professional training.

Compulsory activities are graded as Approved/Not Approved and the right to take an examination in a course with compulsory activities requires any such activities to have been graded as Approved. Students will otherwise lose their right to take the examination for the course until the activities have been assessed as Approved.

For supplementary information about examinations and compulsory activities, please refer to Kristianias website.

Study program MSK

Master in Strategic Communication