Think on this. 2 out of 3 children starting school in 2020 will be in jobs that don’t yet exist (Future Jobs and industry: responding to the speed of change (SDS, June 2017)).
Tech beyond imagination, increased global competition, yo-yo economies and unpredictable employment trends all mean the education sector needs to adapt constantly. The new reality of Covid-19 makes the future of education even more uncertain and complex.
Educators are looking to move from learning models sometimes created back at the time of the Industrial Revolution. There is a thirst to improve teaching, identify efficiencies and deliver value to their students. Educational institutions are becoming more reflective in searching for the best ways to improve student experience in schools and throughout wider communities too.
#SDinED started with the vision of three women. They shared one goal – make the learning journey an enjoyable experience for all. They saw a future where education is co-designed and co-delivered collaboratively by students, staff and wider stakeholder groups.
Three Warriors
Co-Founders Jean Mutton (Go Process Design), Radka Newton (University of Lancaster), and Katie Murrie (Service Design Academy)
They found people like them, committed to change education for the better. With this growing network, they co-created their first gathering. A proto-type agenda to make the future of education better was proposed.
Principles:
- To promote service design as an approach to deliver the best student and staff experience
- Finding business value through a creative design-led approach
- The attainment of strategic goals through integration and interoperability openness, flexibility and inclusion
- Continual improvement through iteration and review
Plan:
- Learn and share case studies and experiences to help start to build confidence
- Support by meeting and supporting one another
- Connect with more educators, designers, policy makers… and ALL users in education
- Prototype our network and our communication channels
- Build presence at events and conferences
The Meeting of Minds
Radka remembers their first face to face meeting “Katie is the tornado that we enjoy swirling around with. Our first meet up gave us loads of energy and tons of confidence that we could pull of something big and significant”
Radka continues, “Those couple of days together in Dundee with a zest to keep going. All of a sudden we felt so much stronger and more confident to let the whole world know about our ideas and our plans for the future.”
By working hard to a build presence on social media, talking about their goals and keeping in constant contact, before they knew it, SDinED had over 100 subscribers globally.
Katie explains, “The most important part of building a network? To keep learning more and more about the education challenges of our new #SDinED friends. These all make us hungry to share our triumphs and failures, so that the network is useful and relevant. This can only make positive change for learners, educators and wider communities”
Jean shares her thoughts on the partnership
“The Service Design Academy is the centre of Katie’s world. And what a world that is. It makes you want to jump, change the world, shout about it and smile. The SDA team are kind and committed. They have provided our network with unconditional support from the start which has been absolutely paramount for our growth.”
The pandemic meant new digital tools were found to deliver major events online for over 100 people. Social distancing created an opportunity to reach out, learn to facilitate and interact with people all over the UK and the world. This growing scope and scale of opportunity made the three warriors realise that they needed support to meet demand.
The Service Design Academy, will take SDinED under its wing to provide more structure and operational support, and a platform that offers potential to keep on growing,
Together, Service Design in Education and the Service Design Academy, feel that we will be able to reach out to more complex levels of the education sector in the UK and globally to make a real impact, to continue to actively improve the world of education for all.
The Learning Team from V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first design museum, was part of the first #SDinED meeting and they’ve been great friend ever since. They encouraged the ambition to run a design weekend in the spirit of, and inspired by, the Global Jams Family. Jams are open, collaborative creative space to explore ways to try out design-based approaches to problem solving and building networks. You can see other Jams in action here
You can find out more and book your ticket here
You can sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all things Service Design in Education or join us at EduJamUK taking place on the 11th, 12th and 13th September 2020.
