Customer orientation in development Nonstop (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

0-5

Content scheduling

According to the student's plan.

Objective

After completing the course, you will have the ability to think customer-oriented in the context of development, you will master customer-oriented service development methods and know how to apply them in your own industry.
You recognize the importance of customer experience management in the development of services. After the course, you will have informed and skillful capabilities to utilize research data, which can be used to target and anticipate development needs in a customer-oriented manner. You know how to evaluate and promote the implementation of professional ethical principles and values in the development of services.

Competences of the course:
- Ethics
- Learning to learn
- Anticipatory development

Content

Customer-oriented thinking in service development (Design thinking) 1 cr
Customer-oriented service development methods and frameworks: experimental development and service design 2 cr
Customer experience and its management 1 op
Benefits and challenges of customer-centred service development in welfare services 1 op

Location and time

Enrolment for the course is continuous and you can start at a time that suits you. The course is completely self-paced, with no time or place constraints. You commit to schedule your own studies. However, all assignments must be returned by 31 July 2026.

Voluntary mentoring in Zoom for the academic year 2025-2026:
2.10.2025
23.10.2025
6.11.2025
20.11.2025
4.12.2025
18.12.2025
22.1.2026
5.2.2026
19.2.2026
5.3.2026
19.3.2026
2.4.2026
16.4.2026
30.4.2026
14.5.2026
28.5.2026
11.6.2026

Materials

Note: Books are used in the course of study as appropriate and on a needs basis.
Hassi, L., Maila, R., & Paju, S. (2015). Kehitä kokeillen: Organisaation käsikirja. Talentum Pro.
Hujala, A., & Taskinen, H. (2020). Uudistuva sosiaali- ja terveysala. Tampere University Press.
Koivisto, M., Säynäjäkangas, J., & Forsberg, S. (2019). Palvelumuotoilun bisneskirja. Alma Talent.
Pakarinen, A., & Pakarinen, A. (2023). Design thinking in healthcare: From problem to innovative solutions (1st ed. 2023.). Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24510-7
Poskela, J., Kutinlahti, P., Hanhike, T., Martikainen, M. & Urjankangas, H-M. 2015. Kokeileva kehittäminen. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön juklaisuja 67/2015.
Saarijärvi, H., & Puustinen, P. (2020). Strategiana asiakaskokemus: Miksi, mitä, miten? Docendo.
Stickdorn, M., & Stickdorn, M. (2018). This is service design doing: Applying service design in the real world : a practitioner's handbook (First edition.). O'Reilly Media, Inc.

+ other material indicated during the course.

Teaching methods

Watching lecture recordings.
Independent study and information search
Working alone or in pairs on tasks: tasks 1-4
Reflection questionnaires and preliminary tasks
Voluntary tutorials

Exam schedules

There are no exams during the course.
The course will follow the principles of the examination regulations.

Student workload

Join us to develop your skills as a customer-focused developer. The course will provide you with a wide range of tools and skills to take your development skills to the next level. The course is a challenging, timely and interesting addition to your customer-oriented developer toolbox. During the course, you will also strengthen your AI literacy and learn how AI can help you as a customer-focused developer.

Please note that the content of the implementation is primarily aimed at students in the welfare sector.

Course content:
Customer-centred thinking in service development 1 cr
Client-centred service development methods and frameworks 2 cr
Customer experience and its management 1 cr
Benefits and challenges of customer-centred service development in welfare services 1 cr

The course load is 5 credits (135 hours of student work). The load is distributed as follows:
Viewing of lecture recordings 5 h
Working on reflection questionnaires 5 h
Exercises 1-4 40 h
Reading, searching for information, thinking 85 h

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

- Students will demonstrate the ability to think in a customer-oriented way in the context of development.
- The student masters a customer-oriented service development method and is able to apply it in his/her own context.
- The student understands what is meant by customer experience and the importance of managing it in service development.
- The student will have the knowledge and skills to use research to identify the needs for customer-centred development.
- Identify the ethical principles and values of the profession in the context of service development.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

- Students will demonstrate an advanced ability to think in a customer-oriented way in the context of development.
- The student masters several customer-oriented service development methods and demonstrates the ability to apply them in his/her field of activity.
- The student recognises the importance of customer experience management in service development and is able to apply his/her knowledge to practical workplace challenges.
- The student will have the knowledge and skills to use research knowledge to target and anticipate development needs in a customer-oriented way.
- The student will be able to assess and promote the implementation of the ethical principles and values of the profession in the development of services.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

- Students will demonstrate an advanced and critical ability to think in a customer-oriented way in the context of development.
- The student will have a command of several customer-oriented service development methods, be able to apply them in development and be able to evaluate the use of different methods in relation to the need for development.
- The student recognises the importance of customer experience management in service development and is able to apply his/her knowledge to demanding practical challenges in working life.
- The student will have the knowledge and skills to use research knowledge to target and anticipate development needs in a customer-oriented way. The student demonstrates the ability to apply knowledge to demanding practical challenges in working life.
- The student will be able to assess and promote the implementation of the ethical principles and values of the profession in the development of services. In addition, the student will identify and analyse future phenomena that challenge the implementation of the ethical principles and values of the profession in the development of services.

Further information

Each part of the course has an assignment, which is marked. Finally, the points are added up and the total score determines the grade for the course.

Each assignment must be successfully completed in order to receive a pass mark. There are four (4) assignments in total and the maximum score is 100. Each assignment must be successfully completed in order to receive a pass mark for the course. The assessment of the course is based on the total number of marks for the assignments as follows:

Grade 1: 25-39 points
Grade 2: 40-54 points
Grade 3: 55-69 points
Grade 4: 70-84 points
Grade 5: 85-100 points

Preliminary tasks and reflections 1-4 must be completed, but do not affect the numerical assessment.

Learning tasks are assessed on specific days, when all returned tasks are assessed. Please note that assignments will not be assessed in the summer, but assignments returned during the summer will be assessed at the end of the course in August 2025. Once you have completed all the assignments for the course (preassignments, assignments 1-4 and reflection questionnaires) and all assignments have been assessed, you will receive a mark in Peppi.

The evaluation dates for the academic year 2025-2026 can be found below. On assessment days, all assignments that have been returned by 8am on the morning of the assessment day will be assessed.

Assessment days for the academic year 2025-2026:
1.10.
22.10.
5.11.
19.11.
3.12.
17.12.
21.1.
4.2.
18.2.
4.3.
18.3.
1.4.
15.4.
29.4.
13.5.
27.5.
10.6.
Assignments returned during the summer will be assessed in August.