• How do second-cycle studies at KTH work?
• Study visits. What may a computer scientist do after graduation?
• The objectives and parts of the Master's programme: courses, tracks and master thesis.
• Channels to find interesting jobs, internationalization, the future for computer science in the working life, multicultural workplaces, ethical responsibility, lifelong learning.
• Self-reflection. What do I want with my education?
• Evaluation of the programme. Participation in research studies.

After passing the course, the student should be able to

• review critically and reflect on both the set-up and implementation of the education as well as their own study situation
• compare different workplaces and professions relevant to computer scientists
• reflect in a deeper way over different topics relevant for the professional role, such as channels to find interesting jobs, internationalization, the future for computer science in the working life, multicultural workplaces and ethical responsibility
• plan and carry out assignments within stipulated time
• identify their need of additional knowledge and continuously develop their skills in relation to the objective of the education and the future professional role

in order to

• obtain the most of the education and the working life in a long-term perspective,
• influence the development of the programme.

The Program integrating course runs through both years of the Master's program in computer science at KTH. The course uses reflections as the main educational instrument.

You will learn why the compulsory courses are compulsory in the program and how these relate to each other, how you should select courses and specialization to become well-prepared for your future employment, and how to study to gain the most from the program.

The program integrating course each year simply consists of four one-hour seminars in groups of about a dozen first and second-year students, together with a professor as a mentor. Since the program is quite large, there are 24 parallel groups and 12 professors as mentors.

Each seminar has a topic, some links to texts to read or videos to look at, and some questions to think about. You will write a reflection on the topic and also on your current courses and studies. Thereafter you should read and comment on the other students' reflections and discuss them at a seminar.

In period 2 each year, you will do a study visit at a Swedish IT company before the seminar.

The detailed schedule can be found under Syllabus/Kursöversikt in the course room in Canvas.

Schedule HT-2021-PROSAMM21
Schedule HT-2020-PROSAMM20

No textbook. The course material will be found in the Canvas course room.

Students at KTH with a permanent disability can get support during studies from Funka:

Funka - compensatory support for students with disabilities

P, F

• UPP1 - Exercises, 1.0 credits, Grading scale: P, F
• UPP2 - Exercises, 1.0 credits, Grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

UPP1 consists of the four seminars during the first year and UPP2 consists of the four seminars during the second year.

For each reflection seminar you have to pass the following:

• write a reflection document, fulfilling the requirements,
• write comments in other reflection documents of the group,
• participate actively in the seminar.

There are three results in Canvas corresponding to these three requirements, marked "hand-in", "comments" and "seminar". You will need a "P" (passing grade) for each of them.

The seminar instructions might specify some other mandatory tasks as well, such as a study visit or answering a questionnaire.

For more information regarding these requirements and how to do if you miss one of them, read below.

The reflection seminars

There are eight mandatory 50-minute reflection seminars in the course. See the detailed schedule for the entire list. The instructions for each seminar will be put in the Canvas course room one week before the deadline for posting the reflection document. In the reflection seminars, you will meet in groups of about a dozen students and a computer science teacher (mentor). Half of the students are studying in their first year of the Master's program and half of the students are studying in their second year.

Before each seminar, you need to do the following

• Read the instructions for the seminar.
• Read the material that you are asked to read about the topic for the seminar. There may also be some videos to view.
• Write a reflection document, answering and reflecting on the questions of the seminar. Use any document format that can be converted to a Google Document  (for example .txt, .doc, .docx, .rtf or .html) and name the file for example My-Name-prosamm-period-Y. The document should be between 500 and 800 words and be written in English. You may also be asked to fill in a questionnaire or perform some other task.
• Make your Google document readable and commentable by others. 
  Put the URL to the Google document in the group's Canvas page for the seminar.
• Read the reflection documents of the other group members and write at least one comment in six of them. You may choose which six group members you like, as long as there are at least two from year 1 (prosamm21) and two from year 2 (prosamm20) among them. You also have to comment on a comment in your own document (if there is any). The comments should have some sort of content, not just "I agree".
• Read the other group members' comments on your document.

After these preparations, you should go to the seminar and actively discuss the topic. 

One of the intended learning outcomes of the course is that you should plan and carry out assignments within the stipulated time. Therefore it is very important that you submit the reflection documents and comment on the other documents on time.

What if you don't want to share your reflections with Google Docs?

If you don't want to submit your reflections as a Google document you should put both your reflection document and your comments on the other documents on the group's Canvas page of the seminar. Then use PDF as the document format and name the files Hakan-Ide.pdf and comments-by-Hakan-Ide.pdf (if your name is Håkan Idé). Each comment will then need to cite the part of the document that it comment. Use the Files/Filer tab in the menu to the right at the  group's Canvas page to upload files.

When a group member comments Hakan-Ide.pdf, they can simply write their comment directly in the group's Canvas page of the seminar, alternatively write the comment in a file and upload it in the group's Canvas page in the way described above.

Active participation in all compulsory activities and passed reflection documents.

What if you cannot participate in the seminar?

If you know in advance that you will not be able to participate in the seminar, you should in good time fill in the table at the seminar group swap page to swap group with another student. If this is not possible, you have to write a two-page reflection on the others' reflections instead and mail it (as a PDF document) to your mentor.

You must still submit your reflection document on time and comment on the other documents.

What happens if you do not submit your reflection document on time?

The course is based on everyone submitting their reflection documents on time. If you do not, you have to write a double length reflection (at least 1000 words) and mail it to your mentor (as well as putting it in Google Docs etc. in the usual way).

What happens if you do not comment on the other documents on time?

If you have not commented (relevantly) on six of the other documents on time, you will need to do this later, and also comment on every comment the other group members have made in your own document. If there are no comments of your own document, you will need to write a relevant comment in each of the others' (i.e. all group members') documents, which might be a comment of a comment. Collect the URLs to all documents you commented and mail them to your mentor.

What if you study abroad?

If you are studying abroad for a period, you should carry out the reflection seminar tasks remotely. Then you get the chance to share your experiences of the exchange studies with the rest of the group. If you are able to attend the Zoom seminar of your group, you can simply do that. Otherwise, please follow the instructions in the next paragraph.

Pay attention to when it is time for submission of reflection documents of the course. In addition to the usual reflection, you should reflect on the exchange studies, if possible in the context of the topic of the seminar. You should write a little more than usual (about 800-900 words), but on the other hand, you won't need to participate in the reflection seminar. You will of course still read and comment on the other group members' reflection documents. Your mentor will report the results as if you had participated in the seminar. Add a note at the top of the reflection that you are reflecting on your exchange studies instead of attending the seminar.

If you are on exchange studies during period 2 you should try to organize your own study visit in the city where you study. You should visit an IT company or IT research group at the university, and the visit should last between 20 and 60 minutes. If it is not possible to find a study visit you will have to do an extra assignment described in the instructions to the seminar in period 2.

Is it possible to finish the course in less than 2 years?

Yes, if you know that you will be finishing your degree within three semesters or less you can apply for replacement assignments for the semester(s) that you miss. You need to send your application to the administrative course coordinator (Viggo Kann)  during period 3 in your first year of the course. To be allowed to finish the course earlier, you need to have passed all assignments of the first year of the course up to the date of the application.

Your mentor will report the results from the seminars (reflection document, comments and participation) in Canvas, normally within a week after the seminar.

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

In this course, the EECS code of honour applies, see:
http://www.kth.se/en/eecs/utbildning/hederskodex