This is a post that we are doing as a part of a series covering different work and research opportunities in Tartu. Stay tuned for more!
Living in Estonia, chances are you hear about digitalisation and digital products almost every day. If you are interested in these topics and are looking for opportunities to deepen your knowledge about them, you should consider joining the Sandbox courses offered at the Institute of Computer Science. In this article, you can learn more about the courses and the benefits of joining Sandbox. Hopefully, upon finishing reading, you will be signing up for one of the courses next semester!
What is Sandbox?
Sandbox is a design thinking and digital product management programme for master’s students at the Institute of Computer Science. The program comprises five courses that circle around the topic of digital product management. You do not have to take all the courses to complete the program but simply select the one(s) that cater to your interests the most.
Photo credit: Sandbox
There are three project-based courses:
- LTAT.05.011 Digital Product Design Introductory Project (3 ECTS). This course consists only of four sessions given at the beginning of the autumn semester, so if you are still not sure whether digital product management is for you, this project is a good place to start. Throughout the four sessions, you will get a 101-intro to design thinking and learn how it can be applied to solving practical cases.
- LTAT.05.019 Digital Product Management Industry Project (6 ECTS). This course lasts for the whole semester, and it can be taken either in spring or in autumn (or both, if you feel like it!) During the course, you will be solving a case brought to you by a Sandbox partner from the industry, and you will be doing it in a team. The sessions occur biweekly, and there are eight in total. The project is also done using design thinking, but here you go into it more deeply.
Photo credit: Sandbox - LTAT.05.024 Global Digital Innovation Project (6 ECTS). This project is similar to the previous one, but the sessions happen every week. In addition, here you will be doing your project in an international team where half of your team comes from the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences in Germany because the course is given in collaboration with them.
Additionally in the Autumn semester, you can join two other Sandbox courses which give you more theoretical foundations but also a chance to apply the learned concepts in practice:
- LTAT.05.007 Human Computer Interaction (6 ECTS). This course provides a deep dive into the world of interfaces and user experience design. Starting with the foundations of HCI, the course will take you through different stages of the process of developing great designs. It includes modules in which you will learn about gathering relevant data, making sense of it, prototyping your designs and evaluating it.
- MTAT.03.325 Software Product Management (6 ECTS). This course gives you a great way to learn more about the business side of software products. You will get familiar with many concepts related to product management, such as user testing, risk management, product metrics calculation etc.
What are the benefits of joining Sandbox?
Photo credit: Sandbox
First of all, if you are really interested in digital products and managing them, you have a unique opportunity to gain knowledge and then apply it to a real-world case with a real Estonian company. You get to interact with the representatives from the company which raises the weight of responsibility but at the same time, Sandbox provides you with a safe space to test out your ideas without the pressure that you would feel in a workplace.
Secondly, you get a chance to join the community of like-minded people who are keen on digital product management and design thinking. Thanks to being a part of the community, you get to attend various events and meet-ups that Sandbox regularly organizes either itself or in collaboration with other universities and companies around Estonia and beyond.
Thirdly, by taking a 6-ECTS project-based course, you can count it as an internship in your curriculum! And of course, taking any Sandbox course is free since they are regular courses offered by the Institute of Computer Science.
How can I learn more?
Great – if you want to learn more, it means you are considering joining the courses! In an article written by Sandbox, you can read everything else you wanted to know about the projects and the people. Subscribe to their Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date.
