This is #SDinED — a service design approach to change in education
#SDinED — actively shaping the future of education
Mission: the Service Design in Education Network is a group of diverse individuals from all over the world with one aim and one passion; to change education for the better using human-centred design approaches.
The world is always changing. Did you know that 2 out of 3 children starting school this year will be in jobs that do not yet exist? (World Economic Forum). How do we prepare our learners for this? How can we improve the student experience and get learners ready for the REAL world, when we do not know what that will be?
Increased global competition, a dynamic economy, an ever-changing landscape of employment, are only a few contributing factors which are making the education sector strive to look for constant improvements, identify efficiencies and deliver value to their students. We all have to do more with less. The student experience can be depicted as a journey (from Prospect to Alumni) and educational institutions are becoming more reflective in searching for the best ways to improve that experience, looking not just inside, but outside the classroom too.
Fortunately, we, the educators, are smart people and we know this scenario is nothing new to our society. As a result, we have started exploring best practice within the sector. Many of us who have dedicated our lives to education and have found our calling in this exciting occupation, have been experimenting with various approaches to make the overall system more effective, to make the jobs of our colleagues more meaningful and student experience more enjoyable and unforgettable for the right reasons.
Many of us knew that something didn’t feel right, that there must be a better future ahead, a future where the value is co-designed and co-delivered collaboratively by students, staff and wider stakeholder groups. Service design initiatives started bubbling under the surface with localised successes and excitement, but in pockets. Some colleagues have been familiar with the technique for years, some are novices, but we all have a lot of enthusiasm and commitment to a better future.
The service design community worldwide has created an excellent resource of connectivity where contacts are made easily and experts help the newcomers to pave their SD journey.
And so this is how it all happened. This is how SDinED was born…..
Jean was an evangelist, the helpful ear on the other end of the phone. Radka was an early career University manager wanting to make a change. Radka found Jean’s JISC article and contacted her immediately! Jean became Radka’s mentor and guided through her SD experiments. Jean’s mantra for Radka was: hold your nerve, hold your nerve…. Radka and Jean both kept educating themselves and came across the SD channel by Marc Fontejn. One day Radka sent Marc a LinkedIn message “Help, Education needs SD!” Marc replied with the contact details of Katie Murrie in Dundee at the Service Design Academy.
And so Jean, Radka and Katie started the SD in ED movement by service designing themselves. What is it that education might need? How might education benefit from SD? How might we be a part of it? This trio started spreading the word and set out to bring all SD enthusiasts together in order to change the future of education. They co-created their first gathering, collaboratively developed a tentative agenda and held their nerve. The SD approach to change in education has proven the importance of practicing what we preach.
The network currently has over fifty enthusiasts who are now actively involved globally and locally in promoting their experience, putting forward their case studies/experiments and sharing their journeys with the others. The network is a living entity with iterations of what might we do, with constant need for research and verification - all with an open mind to what might add value to the education of the future.
It is still early days. The network has currently had two face to face meet-ups in June and September 2019 in Scotland. We are planning our next meet-up in Lancaster for January 2020. We are very excited to be starting this conversation.
The short term plan is to:
- Share — case studies, experiments and experiences to help start to build more service design confidence — if we can do it, then so can you
- Grow — continue to meet up and support one another, spread the word and build content for sharing
- Connect — with more educators, designers, policy makers… ALL releavnt stakeholders/users
- Prototype — ourselves and our website — what do people want? Cases? Blogs? Vlogs? Toolkits?
- Presence — attend/speak at events and conferences
If you would like to get involved or you would like to know more, sign up to our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/gE5O3r
