The blog can become useful...

From student presentation MoD 2007 (photo B.Jevnaker)
Hi,
This blog is created for our common communication and interaction in a new learning project called MoD. This is co-arranged from 2007 onwards as an intensive learning project between one Business school and one Design (or Arts) school: we started this between BI and KHiO and the project is recurrently arranged annually if feasible.

The blog can be useful as a shared site because students from two different schools, with diverse backgrounds and approaches, are going to work closely together in a short time period (3 weeks +) without perhaps previous knowing each other. The students are allocated to a number of teams (18 last year, now more, 22) to work in projects and develop new concepts (fast) across various boundaries we know exist in schools, business practices and creative milieus.

We offer support and the blog can help to expand parts of this communication in addition to occurring in the form of
- e.g. expanded (often shared) design/creative management teaching in both school's class-rooms and elsewhere as part of a joint learning process,
- some teachers and student assistants following the joint teaching and visits,
- we also offer visits to relevant support institutions,
- guest lecturing, dialogues and discussions, as well as
- presentations in class of the team-based proposals (see photo above from MoD 2007).

The blog may thus hopefully help information and conversation flows and open up for a digitally shared space between us all (because the normal blackboard course sites used at BI are not open for external partners, so this open blog site may help overcome this issue).

However, the blog is NOT an excuse for not going to the lectures or visits scheduled! Participation in lectures and scheduled visits and presentations are compulsory to foster a good process for students' work. For supervision or other info on support, check this blog for addition info.

Furthermore, students as well as my colleagues in this learning effort are of course invited as contributors here!
I initiated this blog but close colleagues in this project include faculty members Donatella de Paoli (Associate prof, BI Intercultural Communication) and Halldor (Dori) Gislasson (Dean at Design Faculty, KHiO) who in 2008 is assisted by Kristina Telfer, KHiO's project coordinator, and at BI several student assists. Potential contributors can also be guest lecturers, and I hope especially the students will (b)log their work here and contribute to good conversations.

I wish to highlight that it is a team effort (as well as a few dedicated persons) behind this collaborative project (see other postings for 2007 and 2008 respectively). This is important because our experience is that such a joint educational project demands much extra effort in preparation and coordination since two education institutions and several disciplines/courses/subjects as well as many students and lecturers are involved.

Finally, we cannot promise blogging everyday but will encourage all teams and everyone interested in contributing! If you have problems publishing, please contact Birgit or evt. Dori.

Good luck and efforts with this project also to become visible in a shared blogging!
Birgit

(Birgit H Jevnaker, associate professor, BI Norwegian School of Management, Dep of Innovation & Economic Organization)