Service Design Thinking (BLSI7007)

This course is focussed on learning by doing. Rather than just learning about service design, you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learnt to a real service design challenge. To accomplish this you will complete two linked assessment tasks: (1) a Project Brief, and (2) a Design Portfolio.

The first assessment task requires you to develop a 1,500-2,000 word project brief for a service design project. You should identify a service problem, challenge or opportunity related to your work or personal/family life. Contexts that may provide you with ideas include your workplace, service encounters you have experienced in retail or hospitality settings, your child’s school or extracurricular activities such as a sports team, your gym, a public service/community organisation where you volunteer, etc. Your project brief should include the purpose, scope, goals, context, key stakeholders, resources, timelines and deliverables for the project.

This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

This assessment task requires you to design a service innovation based on the project brief you developed in your first assessment task.

You will conduct observations, interviews or other research to help you develop a problem statement. You will then use ideation, prototyping and testing techniques to design a service innovation to address the problem.

Good design involves an on-going process of documentation and reflection about the process, content, and context of the design. Throughout the process you will develop a design portfolio based on your application of service design thinking tools and techniques to define, analyse and develop creative solutions for a service problem. Your portfolio can include a range of tools and media generated at each phase of the design process, including notes, sketches, photos, mood boards, videos, design ideas, storyboards, wireframes, worksheets, design activity plans, prototypes, etc.

Your portfolio should be organised around the six phases of the service design process, including research, problem identification, ideation, prototyping and testing. The final stage should be presented as a plan for implementing the service innovation. Each phase of the design process should be accompanied by a short (200 to 300 word) reflection of the process – what did you do, what worked, what did not work, what did you learn?

This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

Throughout the semester, you will write weekly reflections based on the discussion questions and content at the end of each topic. These smaller reflection pieces are not assessable, but provide valuable material for a final 1,500 word reflection submitted at the end of the course. Your reflection may focus on the video lectures, assessment or interactions with other learners and course instructors. You can include any combination of the following:

• Reflecting on what you have learnt and thinking critically about your own feelings, thoughts, reactions, behaviours or challenges you faced.
• Making connections between what you already know and what you are learning, between theory and practice or between key issues discussed in the course and personal experiences as a consumer or employee.
• Critically reflecting on one or more aspects of the course, evaluating the impact of teaching practices on your learning experience or personal agenda, and providing constructive feedback for the course.

This task has been designed to be challenging, authentic and complex. Whilst students may use AI and/or MT technologies, successful completion of assessment in this course will require students to critically engage in specific contexts and tasks for which artificial intelligence will provide only limited support and guidance.

A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.