Service Design Study Module Erasmus Project

Project Title

Service Design Study Module

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Cooperation between educational institutions and business; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

CONTEXT:
Service design is a way of thinking and a methodology that is based on the product / service development processes of companies and organizations centred on the customer / target group. It improves the customer experience, which in turn increases the sustainable development of the organization. In today’s society, a human-centered approach to the development of services and organizations is crucial, but teaching this knowledge is not yet systematically linked to the teaching of entrepreneurship at universities. Also, the awareness of companies and organizations about the development of a customer-oriented product service is still low and there is a need to raise awareness. The development of service design module would contribute to the development of different learning and training formats to raise awareness and competences.

OBJECTIVES:
– to upgrade the open education in a digital era by mixing digital and face-to-face learning approaches to promote innovative pedagogies and methods for teaching and learning;
– to develop a service design study module together with the supportive digital platform that aggregates different service design tools and organizes them in sensible and user-friendly manner;
– to enhance the competitiveness and customer- / citizen centered service / product development in private and public sector organizations

PARTICIPANTS:
(1) the students / attendees who participate in the pilot training programme. Their profile is twofold: (a) executives / managers of business organisations, (b) executives / managers of public sector organisations. 6 participants from each partner country (altogether 18): half from businesses and half from public sector institutions;
(2) the lecturers / trainers who are responsible for carrying out the workshops and should have practical experience in service design or related fields and / or practical experience as being an educator of adult learners. At least 2 trainers per partner organisation (altogether at least 8).

ACTIVITIES:
The core activities are:
1. Development of service design study module – that can be implemented independently (e.g. as an Executive education module) or integrated into a formal curriculum.
2. Development of digital platform (web-page) – to gather different types of tools and methods used in teaching and learning processes of service design during the study course.
3. Piloting the developed module through international adult learners course in all partner countries.
The core activities will be supported by development of a general framework for teaching service design, various dissemination activities, engagement of relevant stakeholders, and project management activities.

METHODOLOGY:
The project follows accepted hands-on learning methodologies that help students learn by doing and through experience. Thus, the project will further promote collaborative and explorative learning approaches. The keywords in module design are internationality, interdisciplinarity, co-creation and interactive learning-teaching activities. The learners will have the opportunity to learn from each other and from the teacher through peer evaluation.
In developing the digital platform, special emphasis will be put on UX and UI. Constant feedback will be used to improve the customer experience.

RESULTS AND IMPACT:
The main foreseen results include:
– A general framework of principles how service design could be taught;
– A generic prototype of a study model of service design for business and for public sector leaders and managers
– Tested and feedbacked service design module (approx. 30 credit points) that is ready to be carried out as an independent complementary training course, executive program or integrated into formal studies;
– digital / web-based platform that aggregates different type of tools and methods of service design;
– raised awareness of service design education.
The project will consistently contribute to the innovation capacity of participating organisations and participants of the piloting process. The new knowledge and tools will help people to innovate their businesses and organisations according to human-centered approach to services’ development.

LONGER TERM BENEFITS
It is envisioned that the project and its co-design process will be able to achieve first a higher awareness by a varied range of stakeholders, and implementing the service design module into different curricula as a result, affect the sustainability and competitiveness European businesses as well as increase the access and effectiveness of public services on a local, regional, national and European level.
Among the main benefits, the project will:
– increase the dialogue between the business and academic community on the importance of collaboration to solve real life problems;
– promote interdisciplinarity and international mind-set in education to support keeping up with the requirements of societal and business need

Project Website

https://sd4x.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 136255,04 Eur

Project Coordinator

TALLINN UNIVERSITY & Country: EE

Project Partners

• STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS IN RIGA SIA
• Brand Manual
• UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT