Professors
This course seeks to assist you in:
Developing a broad understanding of the complexity of successfully implementing technological solutions in a sports environment
Special attention to specific requirements of different application areas of the technological innovation, understanding of the needs and desires of stakeholders and the quantification of the value creation of the new solution.
Get a practical and hands-on experience of product/solution development in the context of the sports industry
Providing the tools necessary for the different steps of the process of technological innovation in sport
Understanding and experiencing the iterative process and its complexity
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should have obtained knowledge of:
the complexities of dealing with sports stakeholders in introducing new technological innovation;
the conditions that need to be in place or created to successfully introduce technological innovation in the sector;
have experienced the process of developing (high) tech solutions for a competitive environment sector like the sports industry,
going through a creative process working in a team.
The course will have a mayor weight in practical group work. The students will be split up in different work groups, each to develop new technological solutions addressing real problems and/or opportunities. Projects will be done for and with the support of real companies and the work groups will have to actively engage with the companies in order to find optimal solutions. They will be guided through the process and will have to present their final product/solution to a panel of professors and representatives of the company.
The students will be guided through the process of technological innovation in sport by the professor and a mentor (one per group) who will provide support to groups at key moments. In class we will explain necessary theory, templates and guidelines. These will be applied in-group work in order to deliver a portfolio of hand-ins that should be presented. The groups will then receive feedback on their work to be able to take on the next project.
At the end of each project the groups will present their final concept design of a technological solution to the companies that initially presented the project briefs.
During the working sessions the professor will be present to provide the students with guidance and further support for their new product/service development project. Furthermore the students will have to make appointments to have mentoring sessions with the professors or mentors outside normal class time. This is to give students additional support to develop their products.
A major part of the grading of the course will be based on the group work and presentations. Therefore group work and self-organization will be important for a successful evaluation of the course.
The Course grade will be based on presentations and group work. There will be NO EXAMS. The grading will be based on the following point breakdown:
Project reports (3 deliverables): 60% (20% each)
Project Presentations (Proj 1&2): 30% (15% for each presentation)
Individual self-evaluation report: 10%
REQUIREMENTS, EXPECTATIONS, AND ASSESSMENT
Since the objective of this class is, in effect, to put into practice the skills and processes of Sports & Technology Management & New Product Development, we expect you to treat the group work in this course very seriously. You are in charge with your team to develop technological solutions for real problems/challenges in a sports organisation or company. As the managers of this class, we assume that the people we are working with are good, hard-working and intelligent people who are capable of meeting the requirements of this job.
In big lines we expect the following points of commitment from the course participants:
Attend class.
It is imperative that you are here. You CANNOT miss classes. This course is only effective if everyone participates actively:
1. Class Attendance: Students are permitted 4 absences without penalty (or need for medical or other justification). The 5th absence results in the loss of 0.25 points, the 6th absence in a further 0.25 points, the 7th absence in a further 0.25 points, and with the 8th absence the student receives a 0 for attendance. Note: After 8 absences this is a serious situation and you are in danger of failing the course.
2. Class Participation: Come to class ON TIME, PREPARED to take part in the case discussions and other activities. You will be assessed on the QUALITY of your comments and your ability to CONNECT with and build upon the comments made by your colleagues.
3. Group work is most important for the grade. All the deliverables and work will be done in groups. A team work is expected to create leveraging of the strong points of ALL members! Therefore, you are expected to ALL work in the group. Make good tasks distributions, you should comply with your responsibilities and be responsible to your other team members. If you do your work badly this will affect the grade of the whole group. You will be assessed on your contribution and interaction with your colleagues/team mates. A peer validation will be applied in which you colleagues will validate your participation and you will validate their participation.
Meet deadlines.
Meet due dates. This is the policy for ALL assignments, exercises, presentations, activities. Late stuff submissions are not accepted. For every day of delay your grade will be rested with one point. If you have one week of delay, even when the deliverable is excellent you will not be able to receive more than 5 points. More than one week of delay of a deliverable you will receive 0 points.
Demonstrate academic integrity in all of your work.
If you are caught cheating in any form on exams, plagiarizing or rehashing in exercises, activities, assignments, presentations or handing in work you did not do, be prepared to receive a failing final grade for the course.
Be sure your work is your own. You are responsible for citing all sources on which you rely, using quotation marks when language is taken directly from others work, and knowing how to use your own language to paraphrase a source (hint: changing a few words is not sufficient). If you cite a direct quote, you must provide a reference with a page number for the citation.
Comply with deliverables and presentations.
Big part of the coursework consists of preparation and presentation of deliverables as indicated further on in the course schedule.
The deliverables and presentations should be done according to guidelines and templates you will receive during the course.
The deliverables and presentations will form 70% of the course grade and are therefore very important for you final grade.
Communication and hand in of deliverables.
All the presentations and other deliverables should be handed in on E-study in the deposits that are created in the course structure. Also our feedback, course slides, articles and other necessary course material will be delivered through E-study.
We will be available for questions and support during the group work classes, through an e-mail you can previously do a request for an appointment slot during the work group classes.
Contact details of the team of professors can be found in the course contract.
Be punctual.
Come to class ON TIME. No excuses are allowed. Late arrivals disrupt the flow of the class. In addition, tardiness at work would not be tolerated.
Revision Date
Once the semester is over and final grades posted, there will be a time slot of a day devoted to revision.
As well as the main textbook, additional readings will be posted on the estudy intranet or handed out in class. Most of these readings will consist of articles, internet blogs and other interesting links.
Recommended Textbooks
- Rosner & Shropshire, The Business of Sports, Jones & Bartlett Learning 2011
- Gratton & Solberg, The Economics of Sports Broadcasting, Routledge 2007
- Gómez, Kase & Urrutia, Value Creation & Sport Management, Cambridge 2012
- Karl Ulrich, Steven Eppinger, Product design and development, Mac GrawHill, 2007 fourth edition
- Tom Kelly, The art of innovation
Other sources: