The aim of the degree is to provide students with:

1. good theoretical and general knowledge of as well as artistic and practical expertise in their field of study as well as a general knowledge of the field of arts;
2. knowledge and skills needed for independent and demanding artistic work and for multidisciplinary collaboration as well as knowledge and skills needed to apply scientific knowledge and scientific methods;
3. knowledge and skills to perform, both independently and collaboratively, demanding expert, development and management duties of the field, and to cooperate internationally;
4. knowledge and skills needed for education leading to a Doctor of Arts (Art and Design) degree and for lifelong learning;
5. good language and communication skills for work in the field of arts and for international operations and cooperation.

The education shall be based on scientific research and artistic activity and professional practices in the field.

Nordic Visual Studies and Art Education (NoVA) educates professionals, practitioners and researchers on contemporary art and education, working with different audiences and communities, digital communication, and visual studies. The main objective of NoVA is to achieve knowledge and skills of the best Nordic values, research, and practices in art education and visual studies. NoVA provides relevant competences and pedagogical interaction skills for working in cross-cultural and international educational and communication environments, or for continuing research at the doctoral level.

Through courses on visual culture, social theory, pedagogy, aesthetics in digital communications and games, for example, students investigate seeing and being seen. NoVA students explore how digital technologies affect perception and how vision is constructed. Students research visual events to understand the relationship between institutions, the media, society, and the economic sphere. Thus the NoVA programme provides students with opportunities to critically reflect upon and synthesize previous experiences and knowledge as well as generate new knowledge on contemporary art and education, digital communication, and visual studies.

NoVA pushes geographical, pedagogical, and research boundaries through its network of international partners, diverse experiences, and research topics and methods. The program is committed understanding and teaching the best of Nordic art education practices while responding to learners from around the world, and addressing global challenges and possibilities.­­­

Content Outcomes:

• Students understand a broad range of issues, theories, and practices of Nordic art education and visual studies
• Students understand practices and traditions of cross-cultural and international education
• Students understand the interrelationship of social and cultural issues, curriculum content, philosophies of teaching, and the construction of democratic spaces of learning
• Students understand the geo-political and pedagogical dimensions of space, place, the public sphere, and private realms

Skill Outcomes:

• Students are able to analyse, interpret, and respond to images, objects, and sites in everyday life through theories of visual culture
• Students are able to connect art and visual image making and the interpretation of visual culture to issues of power and representation, for advancing pedagogy
• Students are able to use digital technology for contemporary art didactics
• Students are able to produce layered, interactive, and dynamic visual work, in different formats and media
• Students are able to develop plans, carry out in practice, and document independent practical projects

Academic Skills:

• Students can apply pedagogical interaction skills in cross-cultural and international educational situations and environments
• Students can apply methods of contemporary art didactics
• Students know a variety of research methodologies and are able to investigate, develop, and implement cutting edge research in art education
• Students can apply skills of intercultural and social entrepreneurship
• Students can participate in international discussions and research

NoVA is based on e-learning, contact teaching, and face-to-face meetings. The idea of blended learning is the foundation of NoVA. Learning by doing, problem oriented approaches, and learning by using is integrated with practical and theoretical e-learning based activities. Contact teaching is a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, visits, case studies, projects, peer working and student presentations, using multimodal approaches: texts, images, audio, and different physical and digital interfaces and communication. Teaching is provided by three Nordic universities, and each student will study in person at two universities. Each student stays one semester at a NoVA partner University and is guided to study minimum 20 ECTS in one other NoVA partner university.

In addition to Aalto University, the partner universities and departments in NoVA are the Department of Visual Arts Education at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (SE), and Department for Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University Copenhagen (DK).

Between and among the NoVA partners, a broad range of study areas include:

• Critical pedagogy with social and cultural awareness. This stems from aspects of the highly valued Nordic education systems, emphasising democratic societies, egalitarianism, socially just pedagogical skills and practices, human rights and social and cultural sustainability.
• Nordic digital technologies, digital media, new technologies, and communication. Social and cultural competences in ICT & online communication are included to the programme as content and as pedagogical methods.
• Contemporary art education. This includes project and problem oriented teaching, and collaborative and participatory based learning based on contemporary methods, and theories of art, pedagogy, and mediation.
• Visual culture developed in the Nordic region. This incorporates exploring creative and critical approaches to design and art making, coupled with a deep responsibility for openness, caring, and equality.

Courses

Major Studies 90 ECTS

The students select altogether 30 ECTS of elective studies. The studies completed during the exchange period (20 ECTS) at a NoVA partner University will be placed to elective studies. In addition to this student can choose freely studies from Aalto ARTS, other Schools of Aalto University and/or studies in other universities in Finland (Joo-studies). NoVA Courses with Varying Contents can be included in elective studies. The course Theories and Practices of Visual Culture can be included either in elective studies or in advanced studies.

Aims of the master's thesis

To graduate, students must meet the aims set for the thesis. The aim of the master's thesis is that:

- Students demonstrate command of the field of the master's programme and ability to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the programme independently;

- Students demonstrate ability for research-oriented work on an artistic, theoretical or applied research topic and demonstrate ability to use data and source material for research purposes;

- Students demonstrate good communication skills for work in the field of study.

The thesis may be a piece of theoretical, artistic or applied research, a work of art or a combination of these; it may also include a production component. The production component may be, depending on the field, for instance, a design, a work of art, an exhibition, or project. Theses always include a written component. If the thesis consists of a design or other production component and a written component, the student must specify the emphasis to be given to the different components in the evaluation. However, the thesis is always evalu-ated as a whole, with all the components of the thesis included in the evaluation.

The recommended extent of the written component of the thesis is 25–70 pages (approx. 50 000–140 000 characters) depending on the extent of the possible production component.

For more information on completing your thesis see: Completing your master's thesis