Contents:
In the ACT course, teams of 5 to 8 students are assigned to execute a transdisciplinary-oriented academic consultancy project for an external commissioner (for example governmental, private and civil society organizations). The teams are composed on the basis of the required disciplinary mix for the execution of the project and the preferences expressed by students. Each team has an assigned process coach and an academic advisor (content coach) relevant to the project. The multidisciplinary and preferably multicultural team will carry out a design-type project for their commissioner. This might be the design of new technologies, policy papers, business strategies, regional development arrangements, communication plans or draft research plans for integrated research programmes. Crucial is that teams bring together academic insights and practical knowledge, reach a synthesis of the compiled information in consultation with the commissioner, and translate this into an advice on future actions for their commissioner.
We require students to be fully available during the hours ACT is scheduled (mornings in weeks 1,2,3 and 8; full days in weeks 4-7). By default most of the scheduled sessions (e.g. CPD sessions, team meetings, meetings with the coaches) take place on campus (unless ACT coordination instructs otherwise), and your presence in these sessions is mandatory. The ACT course is scheduled in such a way that students can combine the course with MOS modules. Note that there is an alternative version of ACT which is called 'Entrepreneurial ACT' (E-ACT). This version is offered only in some of the periods throughout the year (you will be informed about the available options via e-mail by your study advisor).
Learning outcomes:
After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- define, and adjust when and if necessary, with a team and in interaction with a commissioner, the goal of their transdisciplinary-oriented project and a project proposal plan, including research questions, methods of analysis, expected outputs, budget, project planning and management;
- contribute at an academic level to the execution of a transdisciplinary-oriented project, both in terms of process and content, by gathering, selecting and analysing information and by integrating this into final project deliverables;
- discuss and defend their viewpoints and conclusions in a professional and academically correct way;
- implement reflective learning by an assessment of their personal functioning in and contribution to a professional team and discuss reflections and feedback in writing and during assessment interviews;
- demonstrate academic consultancy attitude and skills to execute the team project within a complex collaborative environment.
