DXC Diary Entry #1: Introduction to our project and team
Hello there! We are a team of 4 Digital Transformation Design trainees from the Design Across Cultures track of the Spring 2021 semester at the Digital Society School. From February 2021 to June 2021, we will be working on a project partnered with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Welcome to our Medium diary: a diary of articles highlighting our collective journey, experiences and key aha! moments.
February 8th, 2021 is the day when the Spring 2021 semester of the Digital Society School began remotely. The first week involved introductory workshops and interactive sessions with the entire cohort of approximately 40 trainees. In the second week, we were introduced to our teams, coaches and projects.
In this diary entry, we will introduce you to our project and the people who make up our team.
Background
Our project theme is education and our partner is the Hogeschool van Amsterdam or HvA (English: Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences).
Before we dive into the project goal, here is some background about the Dutch educational system. It consists of 3 main levels:
- MBO — Vocational education (Diploma).
- HBO — Higher professional education (Bachelor/Master). Provided by Applied Science institutions, e.g. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
- WO — academic higher education (Bachelor/Master/PhD). Provided by Universities, e.g. the University of Amsterdam.
This system is very rigid and students get divided into the MBO direction, HBO direction or WO direction based on a test at the age of 12 (i.e. after completing primary school).
MBO-graduates can choose to transition into an HBO. The Hogeschool van Amsterdam is an HBO institution. Out of the MBO-graduates who do choose to make this transition and enrol into the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 40% drop out in the first year. This transition of students from the MBO world to the HBO world is the focus of our project.
Our goal
How might we design a solution with physical-digital elements that can signal MBO students’ experience of their transition into HBO-level education, highlighting (collective) challenges and well-being?
Here’s what we mean by…
- signal: making the students’ experience understandable to themselves and HvA support staff.
- transition: the (changing) expectations and habits of students as well as the changing expectations that others (e.g. family, the University, society) have from these students.
The role of culture
Let’s talk about this project in light of our track: Design Across Cultures.
Culture is defined as the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society.
~ Oxford English dictionary
It isn’t just about people from different countries around the world, but also about smaller groups and individuals. We can view the MBO as having one culture and the HBO as having another culture.
These 2 educational strata involve different ways of thinking and doing. The transition from MBO to HBO is equivalent to the transition from one culture to another and this transition may involve changing habits and expectations. In this project, we are exploring the collective challenges and well-being of people who are going through this transition from one cultural environment to another.
Meet the team (+ recommendations local to each one of us)
Tanishqa Bobde is a design researcher and strategist from India with a Bachelor degree in Design. She is passionate about understanding human behaviour, sustainability, design management, speculative design and thought leadership. She wants to create a positive impact through human(ity) centred innovation and inclusive product-service systems. After this project, she will explore jobs within these fields.
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanishqa-bobde-85066a141/
- Portfolio: https://tanishqabobde.com/
- Local book recommendation: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
Bridget Dooley is an Amsterdam-based User Experience researcher and designer with a background in political communication. Originally, she’s from Boston, USA. She considers herself a life-long learner, and as of late has been particularly interested in facilitating the co-creation of digital products among diverse project stakeholders.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-leigh-dooley/
- Portfolio: https://uxfol.io/bdooley
- Local book recommendation: Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
Ami Tsang is an artist and content creator from Hong Kong. Her background includes driving the design of forward-thinking and creative community art projects. Together with her experiences in creating visual and video contents for tech startups, she has developed strong senses of the art of immersive storytelling with craftsmanship and multimedia editing skills.
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ami-tsang-0aa317185/
- Portfolio: www.underthewater.nl
- Local film recommendation: The Longest Summer by Fruit Chan
Helge Moes is a student at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and studies at the faculty of humanities: Media and Information. He is passionate about media, culture, information, technology, management, research, globalisation, journalism and business. It is his goal to become a media scholar/designer that focuses on culture and information.
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helge-moes-03115a19a/
- Local film recommendation: The Truman Show (1998)
Anna Aris is our coach and a Digital Transformation Designer of the Design Across Cultures track. She has a background in anthropology and is fascinated by how human beings produce, communicate and maintain certain ‘ways of knowing’ — through dialogue as well as through an infrastructure of digital and non-digital artefacts. In other words, what ensures that some people’s world views are taken for granted, while others views are neglected or altogether invisible — and how does this influence the process of designing new digital tools?
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-aris-a1b27a161/
- Local food recommendation: Dutch old cheese
Keep an eye on this space for regular updates and feel free to reach out to any of us for more information.
Click here to know more about the Design Across Cultures track.
