Moving Forward

Service Design Academy

Dundee and Angus College and Open Change have worked in partnership for over a year to develop service design training under the Service Design Academy brand. During this time we have built a highly innovative and distinctive training programme that has gained international attention within the service design community, and made a valued contribution in the local training market. Alongside this, service design has been applied within the College as part of its Good to Great initiative, helping to refine and enhance the student experience.

This partnership has proved successful in developing content and training approaches that are informed by Open Change’s experience in running pioneering courses, research and consultancy in the field, together with the College’s expertise in delivering accredited training for the specific needs of the Dundee region. The partnership has built demand both within the College and in external markets.

We have established the first ever Professional Development Award in Service Design, undergoing accreditation by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. The model has enabled us to deliver the course in tandem with standalone bootcamps. The quality of the training and the assets that we have developed together for this Award are evidenced from participants’ feedback:

“It’s eye opening and inspiring making you view services in a different way!”
“The boot camp gives you new approaches and tools to solving a problem, brings out the creative side of everyone and makes you see opportunities not only problems. You’ll feel very energised and empowered.”
“Fun, informative, engaging, fast paced & educational.”

Having succeeded in establishing SDA’s pioneering programme in service design training, the partnership can now move on to a new phase. Open Change will no longer be involved in developing and delivering SDA courses, and will focus on its work in capacity building and design-led transformation with public and private sector organisations. SDA will continue its valued work, delivered by Dundee and Angus College staff. Open Change will continue to explore collaboration with the College on future projects that champion service design in Scotland and contribute to Dundee’s status as a UNESCO City of Design.

Alison Duncan

You may also like

Awards, Bootcamps, Workshops and Good to Great – every challenge is an opportunity
11 April, 2019

2019 kicked off working with staff and students at Dundee & Angus College during Quality Week, there’s no classes and it’s a great time to get together.  We’d carried out user research at the end of the year and staff …

Co-Designing our Classrooms – Cyber Security Lab
18 January, 2019

Dundee and Angus College’s Computing and Creative Media Department stands apart for many reasons.  One being the proactive approach to revamping the learning environment to provide the best experience and education for all learners.  A shining example of this is the …

Helsinki
19 December, 2018

In November 2018, through an Erasmus+ funded Mobility Project, the Service Design Academy staff from Dundee & Angus College travelled to Helsinki.  This blog details the trip – where we went, who we met and what we learned.