Good News - hot on the heels of the Launch event at Dundee & Angus College on 27th November, the new Service Design Academy website is now live – checkit out at www.sda.ac.uk.
You can sign up for courses including the Service Design Taster Day taking place 12th December 2017: http://sda.ac.uk/index.php/our-courses/service-design-taster-day/
It’s definitely been an exciting week so far at The Service Design Academy.
Our Advisory Board met for the first time on Monday, we’ve got a great team on the Board:
Hazel White, Director, Open Change (Chair)
Laura Allison, Head of Quality Improvement, NHS Education for Scotland
Anna Day, UNESCO Dundee City of Design and Cultural Projects Manager
Sarah Drummond, Founder & Director, Snook
Gillian Easson, Executive Director, Creative Dundee
Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive, Scottish Social Services Council
Donna Fordyce, Industry Engagement Specialist, Seafood Scotland (Member of the Board of Management, Dundee & Angus College)
Alison Henderson, Chamber CEO, Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce
Simon Hewitt, Vice Principal (Curriculum and Attainment), Dundee & Angus College
Steven Kyle, Changing for the Future Programme Manager, Dundee City Council
Adam St John Lawrence, Partner & Customer Experience Director, Work•Play•Experience
Mike Press, Director, Open Change
Bharti Rajput, PhD, Sole Body Sole
Grant Ritchie, Principal, Dundee & Angus College
Caron Sandeman, Business Systems Development Manager, Dundee & Angus College
Sarah Saunders, Director of Learning, V&A Dundee
We are honoured to have each and every one of them joining us in this venture. As Mike Press said, “we wanted the “A List” and we got them!”
Those who were able to attend heard all about our achievements to date – we reckon we’ve done pretty well to get where we are today in less than 6 months. Yes, 6 months! It’s hard to believe that from Dundee GovJam in May came the discussion that the people in and around Dundee (and miles beyond) wanted to be able to access high quality accredited training in Service Design at an introductory level and the Service Design Academy was born.
From a discussion on a telephone …. to a meeting in a room at Dundee & Angus College …… to a plan on the wall (we’re really into sketch noting now!) ….. to market research ……. to recruiting staff ….. to discussions with SQA …… to developing Units and writing content ….. to digitising the content for full online delivery ……… to a mailing list …. to recruiting 25 students for our Pioneer Group ….. to a launch event … to building a website …… and all the highs and lows and administrative and important bits and pieces in between ……. we’re here.
There were congratulations all round and a lot of excitement that Dundee and Scotland, I heard the quote “we’re the innovation nation”, were once again leading the way in Service Design to offer accredited training at Higher National Level powered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. But it wasn’t all back slapping we were asked the hard questions too. It’s all too easy to get carried away about the here and now and that’s exactly why we’ve set up an Advisory Board full of great people to ask us the hard questions and find out our answers, to offer advice and direction.
On Monday evening we had the official launch with over 50 people joining us in the Incubator Reception where they had the opportunity to hear from Simon Hewitt, Alison Henderson and Hazel White. Alison is the CEO of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, she’s on our Advisory Board and she’s also a member of the Pioneer Group – a complete novice in service design 3 months again she really sees the value in it and spoke about the opportunities for all businesses who are part of the Chamber to be involved. Renowned for our use of Post-it and Sharpies we had interactive workshops on the go with people invited to break down their assumptions using a set of photographs from a Facebook page and a show and tell on a Rip & Mix Session we ran at College Development Network last week (that’s the topic of another blog right there!!) It was great to see not just businesses there but also a very enthusiastic group of final year design students who are interested in adding a Service Design qualification to their Degree or Post Grad studies to enhance their employment opportunities.
Mentioning our Pioneer Group they are now more than half way through the first Unit in User Research – their insights have been invaluable and while they have been learning, we have been learning too. We’ll gather weekly feedback from now on around course content, level of study, learning materials and through user research we’ll dig right to the bottom of what people are saying to make sure going into the first live cohort in January we’ve service designed the service design course from start to finish J
Check out the website – see what training options are available and get in touch if you’ve any questions (and tell your friends about us to please).
You can find out more by contacting:
Caron Sandeman
Business Systems Development Manager
Dundee & Angus College
01382 834915, info@sda.ac.uk
Dundee & Angus College
Dundee and Angus College is moving away from traditional thinking and focussing much more on careers not courses. It wants the people of the Dundee and Angus region to be better informed and prepared for the career options available to them, no matter what stage they are at.
