Author: Ferran Giménez Prado
Programme: Doctoral Programme on the Information and Knowledge Society
Language: English
Supervisor: Dr Eugènia Santamaría Pérez, Dr Carles Sigalés Conde
Faculty / Institute: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)
Key words: Curriculum design, curriculum development, innovation education, entrepreneurship, higher education management, university education
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Abstract:
This thesis investigates what the implementation of a new degree for an emerging area of knowledge entails and the key factors involved in its development. Following the grounded theory methodology, the experience of creating the Bachelor's Degree in Multimedia at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) is analysed through documentary analysis, in-depth interviews with participants (teachers, administrators and students) and comparing and contrasting the data from that particular case with the literature. This research shows that the creation of a university undergraduate degree for an emerging field is the result of a set of linked processes that lead to the development of a micro-system. It is a new reality that, to reach maturity, must go through 3 different stages of evolution characterized by positioning the core of the value-generating activity in different layers of the system. The conceptual framework obtained as a product of this research work is a useful tool for analysing the elements that make up the challenge of meeting the opportunities posed by the emergence of new knowledge areas from a systemic and interdisciplinary perspective.