“It all just clicked” : Experiences of finding and using service design in higher education

Doherty, Michael and Newton, Radka and Mutton, Jean (2024) “It all just clicked” : Experiences of finding and using service design in higher education. In: Transforming Higher Education Through Human-Centred Design :. Routledge, New York, pp. 24-35. ISBN 9781032467634

Abstract

This is a crowdsourced chapter. It draws on the accounts of 19 contributors who told us how they first made contact with service design ideas, how they incorporated service design methods into their perspectives and practices and how they have used service design tools to bring about positive change in their institutions and for their students and colleagues. As service designers this felt like a natural thing for us to do in putting this book together. Service design is a collaborative venture. It encourages us recognise the limitations of our own disciplinary and personal skills and perspectives and to work in teams. It values processes of co-creation. We also conceive of service design in higher education as a movement as well as a burgeoning field of practice. Our understanding of what it means to ‘do’ service design in HE should draw on a wide and diverse range of voices. We make no claims that the survey is strictly representative, but it was circulated as widely as possible via social media, our book website and through our networks and contacts. The responses were really gratifying because a) these stories are powerful, and b) we really want this book to have impact, to empower you to start or continue your journey into human-centred design in higher education. A challenge is often that people cannot see an ‘in’, an opportunity to take their first steps into a new field of practice. This chapter is full of diverse examples of how people have made that first step, built up their capabilities in service design and applied it to make positive changes to their institutions. Our thanks to the contributors who are listed at the end of this chapter.