Study Guide

Learning outcomes

Students
- know the difference between the weak and strong ecologically sustainable consumer solutions and the basics of design for sustainable behavior change
- know what to evaluate as the change required for ecologically sustainable consumption in the areas of housing, energy and water use, mobility, food, material products and services
- know how to apply the multimethod, holistic design process, user driven approach and behavior change heuristics for creating sustainable service solutions

Implementation and methods of teaching

The course consists of material and tasks to get familiar with sustainable design, service design and design for behaviour change research and methods. The material is designed for independent studies and tasks so you can apply the tasks for you self chosen purpose and service. For further reading some internationally published articles about the material are available for you to read.
Tools from service design, behavioural psychology and systems thinking are used to the drive the development forward and to make justified decisions and design at the end. The design results are presented in August 2025 zoom meeting for joint discussion and comments. After that a final assignment is an individual written and visual report about the tasks, the design result and the justifications for them. (can be produced as a power point presentation using the canvases presented in the material).

Timing and attendance

The course content is the individual project work, presenting it and delivering a report form it (5 credits = 133 h student workload).
Material and tasks are open on the 1st of June.
Contact day on campus 22.8. 2025 8h
The final report to be returned by 30.9.2025.

Learning material and recommended literature

The material and project tasks will be provided in Moodle on the 1st of June.

Working life cooperation

The course includes a practical development task.

Learning environment

The studies consist of Moodle materials and tasks to perform a practical development project. Presenting and discussing the results during the contact day.
Delivering a final report form the tasks and the design result.

Student time use and work load

The course content is the individual project work, presenting it and delivering a report form it (5 credits = 133 h student workload).
Material and tasks are open on the 1st of June.
Contact day on campus 22.8. 2025 8h
The final report to be returned by 30.9.2025.

Contents

The content concentrates on design for sustainable behaviour change. This trend of influencing changes in consumer behaviour by design is achieved by applying service design type of service paths and findings from behavioural psychology. These are applied together with designing service systems that are based on solid findings from high impact consumption areas and provide strong sustainable change effects.

Assessment criteria

The evaluation is based on the individual pre-assignment, team work presentation and results and individual final assignment 1/3 each.

Assessment scale

1-5

Assessment criteria: level 1 (assessment scale 1–5)

The student
- knows how to find information sources and can ground how they have been chosen and why they are useful.
- knows how to develop and renew value by providing user driven service systems
- knows how to develop in a way that acknowledges sustainable value basis

Assessment criteria: level 3 (assessment scale 1–5)

The student
- evaluates critically the information sources for sustainable development work.
- can solve demanding problems in innovation work.
- Is able to manage demanding development work in an entrepreneurial manner.

Assessment criteria: level 5 (assessment scale 1–5)

The student can
- use critically and innovatively different information sources for sustainable development
- is able to evaluate the results and effects of innovation activities.
- can evaluate and develop strategies