Study Guide

Descriptions

The Master's Degree Programme in Creative Wellbeing is part of the Professional path. The School of Professional Excellence focuses on developing the skills and competences needed as a specialist in the selected discipline. During the studies, students can focus on the challenges of their own field and on the future environments. After graduation, the student has developed and reformed working life, has created new networks and is prepared to operate in demanding expert and development tasks.

The programme is aimed at individuals with strong expertise in social, arts or health sectors, and the motivation to develop and use their skills to promote inclusion, community, well-being and health at the level of individuals as well as communities throughout society. The education is implemented by the Turku University of Applied Sciences Art Academy in cooperation with the Health and Welfare Unit (TERHY) of Turku University of Applied Sciences.

The main tuition language is Finnish. The studies are also conducted in English and English learning materials are used. The student has an opportunity to participate in the international research, development and innovation projects (RDI) in which the working language is English.

The Master’s degree composes of core competences, complementary competences and Master’s thesis. Part of the mandatory core competence studies are common for all Professional programmes and part are specific for Creative Wellbeing. Complementary competence studies include elective studies that can be taken freely from the other TUAS Master’s programmes or from the Masters’ programmes of other universities. In most cases, the thesis is done as a working life development project.

The aim of the studies is to enable promoting the cultural competences both at personal level and among the individuals or groups the student is working with. The content of the studies strengthens the ability to recognise the clients' cultural needs, and the ability to create a meaningful daily life for the customer. The key concepts of the education include arts and well-being expertise, creativity, creative and art-based methods, encountering skills, expertise in the relationship to one’s operating environments, community expertise, project know-how and developer competence. The studies focus on building, supporting and promoting creative multidisciplinary collaboration.

The extent of the study programme is 90 ECTS.
The studies are composed of:
• Compulsory core competences 40 ECTS
• Elective complementary competences 20 ECTS
• Master’s thesis 30 ECTS.

The studies include e-learning, independent working and contact sessions. The contact sessions are arranged once a month during one or two days on average. However, there can be more contact days due to the individual course selections. The contact sessions consist of counselling, expert lectures and seminar work. The planned length of the studies is two (2 )years.

The thesis is a development project which is done in co-operation with working life and projects and in which the student acts as the project manager. The thesis can be carried out in TUAS research projects, development projects and innovation projects or in the working life environment. Other studies can be connected to the development project where applicable. The student, the teacher tutor and the working life coach collaborate throughout the process. The financier also co-operates when necessary. A steering and project team representing a wide range of expertise will be established for the development project to support its implementation. The development work always relies on comprehensive collection and thorough analysis of the information and the development process uses research methods and development tools relevant from its perspective. The thesis also includes the documentation and reporting of the development activities.

A graduate of the Creative Wellbeing Master's Programme can work in a variety of expert, design, development and co-ordination tasks, as well as in customer and social work in the social and educational sectors, health, arts and culture; nationally or internationally.

Service Designer, Welfare Planner, Culture Planner, Coordinator, Welfare Coordinator, Cultural Welfare Coordinator, Cultural Coordinator, Project Manager, Project Coordinator, Expert, Supervisor, Responsible Director, Responsible Designer

A Master’s degree awarded by a university of applied sciences provides the same eligibility for public posts as a university degree. The education provides general competences in management and development tasks. In the social and health sector, besides the general eligibility conditions, there are also sector-specific regulations for management positions. Extensive development and expertise in the field makes national and international mobility possible. The education follows the European Qualification Framework (EQF) proficiency level descriptions and the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) proficiency descriptions. The level corresponding to the university of applied sciences Master’s degree is 7.

Students have the opportunity to complete part of their studies outside Finland at higher education institutions with which Turku University of Applied Sciences has signed a co-operation agreement. Students can also engage in internationalisation by participating in intensive events organised by international networks, as well as in international conferences and projects. Our Master School international seminar, organised once a year, is part of the Master studies. Part of the studies can be implemented in English. Master’s degree students may participate in international projects.

The co-operation with the working life organisations and networking are a part of the studies. In the RDI projects, the co-operation can also be extended to international universities and to the international working life partners. It is possible for the student to apply for the right to complete JOO-studies (JOO-opinto) at the University of Turku, Åbo Akademi, Diakonia, Yrkeshögskolan Novia and Humak-University of Applied Sciences.

The priorities of the applied research at Turku University of Applied Sciences can be found in the descriptions of the research and project activities of the research groups. The research groups involved in the studies include the Customer-Oriented Social and Health Services Leadership Research Group, the Arts, Health and Wellbeing Research Group, the Research Group on Art Education and Pedagogy, the Participation and Representation Research Group and the Mental Health Promotion Research Group.

A Master’s degree awarded by a university of applied sciences provides the same eligibility for postgraduate studies as a degree awarded by a university. “For studies leading to a scientific or artistic postgraduate qualification, a person who has completed… a suitable university degree may be admitted as a student”(University Law 24.7.2009 / 558, §37). The degree entitles to apply for vocational teacher training.

Objective

After completing the programme, the student is able to:
· perceive and specify the principles of the knowledge base of arts, health and well-being; concepts and key theoretical approaches
· based on research data, justify the importance, impact and significance of arts and culture from the perspective of different customer groups
· design, apply and develop creative and arts-based methods and approaches in different operating environments
· work in multidisciplinary teams and environments
· affect on the quality and accessibility of culture and arts services in the society
· communicate within and out of the field of cultural well-being and participate in the discussion in the field
· act as an expert and developer in the field of creative well-being

Development

The Degree Programme of Creative Well-being is implemented as multidisciplinary studies. Most of the studies and learning take place according to the student's own schedule at the place of his / her choice. The studies are carried out as e-learning, independent work and various forms of group and project work. Independent study is supported and scheduled by contact phases, which usually take place during two consecutive days a month. Students with various basic training and professional backgrounds and proficiency profiles in the fields of arts or social sector and health care can apply which makes the education multidisciplinary by nature. The multidisciplinarity of the student group is a strength and when working in multidisciplinary teams, the students have the opportunity to produce fresh ideas, solutions and innovations.

Teacher supporting the learning process

The teachers of the educators’ team act as supporters of the student's learning process and competence development, as supervisors of a development project carried out as the thesis and as facilitators of networking and multidisciplinary teamwork. In addition to pedagogical competence, the educators’ team has strong core competence in the social, arts and health sectors.

Each student participates in a tutor discussion at the beginning of the studies and during the second semester. In the discussion, the student is supported in setting his/her own learning goals and in making and following his/her own individual study plan (Hops).

Student-oriented learning and teaching methods

The Master's studies include a professional biography process that steers the continuous reflection of one's own professional choices and goals, one's own competence and development goals and one's own professional identity.

The basic starting point is the student-centered learning process and the use of authentic, activating learning tasks. Many of the learning assignments are linked and contribute to the student's own thesis development project. In addition, the learning tasks utilize real case studies, problems, and possible assignments from working life partners.

Diverse learning environments

In these studies, learning takes place in many different learning environments. Some learning environments are utilised by all the degree programme students together whereas others are used by the students who find them a meaningful way and place of learning to reach their own learning goals and follow their own learning paths.

Educational environment: the students usually meet for two days at Turku University of Applied Sciences once a month. These intensive days are important as a place for guidance, peer support and teamwork as well as joint reflection in the learning process. Key note lecture sessions and workshops are given by visiting experts or the teachers on the topic under discussion. In addition, visits to local communities are organised during the contact days. When possible, the students will also be “collided”with other Master School students, for example in joint seminars.

E-Learning environment: The “home base” of the multidisciplinary implementation is TUAS online learning environment, where the students find both general information about their studies and the programmes of individual modules or courses, learning materials, instructions for learning assignments, and tools for learning, completing and sharing learning tasks. Some of the learning activities in the online environment take place in interaction with the student group or team. The online learning tools can also be complemented, if necessary, with other distance learning technology such as Skype for Business, Teams or social media services.

Collaboration networks: The studies of Creative Wellbeing are conducted in close cooperation with working life networks and the students are encouraged to use their own professional networks in their development project and other studies to create new networks. The students are also encouraged to benefit from events, services and training events relevant to their professional development and to include them in their elective studies.

Research Groups and RDI Projects: The student has the opportunity to link his / her own thesis development project to the research groups of the Academy of Arts or other TUAS research, development and innovation projects. The student can also include RDI projects as project studies in his/her elective studies.

The system of continuous feedback

The education for Creative Wellbeing relies above all on the principle of continuous self-assessment and continuous feedback. Students receive feedback on a regular basis. The studies are being developed through continuous dialogue with working life. For example, feedback is available from the (other) educators at TUAS, project partners and the working life networks.

Further information

The assessment of each study module is based on the learning outcomes described in the curriculum, which in turn is based on the competence objectives of the entire degree. The innovation competencies of Turku University of Applied Sciences have been taken into account in the qualification goals of the degree. The evaluation is done on a scale approved-failed in other studies than the thesis project where a numerical evaluation on the scale 0–5 is used.

The assessment criteria for the development project is the joint assessment criteria of the Turku University of Applied Sciences Master's thesis. The thesis always has two assessors, one of them being the teacher who supervises the thesis. The second assessor can be either a teacher at Turku University of Applied Sciences or a working life representative. The student gets a verbal evaluation statement for his/her thesis, in which the numerical grade is justified. Prior to this summative assessment at the end of the thesis process, the student receives feedback from the teacher / supervisor who supervises the thesis to help the student develop his / her thesis. Process assessment is conducted in group situations with the presentation of the research and development plan and later with the demonstration of the progress of the development project, in private steering discussions and after the return of the pre-examination version of the thesis report.

Teacher Assessment: Teacher assessment is based on the principles of continuous evaluation for all learning tasks performed during the course. The assessment focuses on the student's final output (learning outcomes) and on the student's work process (competence development).

At the heart of self-assessment is the professional biography process, which acts as a tool for reflecting on one's own skills and their development as well as reflecting on one's own professional identity throughout the studies. In addition, the student is required to reflect on the development of his / her own competence in all reports related to the studies, such as reports on project studies for elective studies and reporting on the development project carried out as a thesis.

Peer review is used in a number of learning tasks on the web-based learning platform, where the students share in-progress or completed versions of the learning outcomes and give feedback on each other's work. The students also give each other peer feedback on the presentation of the development projects and on various learning tasks during the contact days. Peer review takes place in all courses.

Working life assessment: External assessment by the working life partners is carried out in the theses that have been commissioned by or are assigned to a second supervisor and / or assessor who represents working life. In addition, the study modules use working life visitors as experts of their fields who can also give feedback on students' work during the intensive contact working days. The purpose of working life assessment is above all to support the development of the student's competence and the achievement of his/her goals, i.e. it is primarily meant for the student himself/herself.