STUDENT LINK
Individual Project
Service Concept
Based on the specific context in UAL, a student linking service is designed to improve students proactivity. In order to solve language barriers and improve students' overall experience.
My Role: Service design, User-Centered Research, Co-Design, Concept Development, Prototyping, Graphic design, Video Making. This is an individual project.
Keywords: Student Experience, Language Barriers, Student Proactivity, Student Collaboration, Education Environment, Education Innovation.
Time & Location: 05/2017-12/2017, London
ABOUT THE SERVICE
FOR WHOM
From the research, students in University Of The Arts London could be classified as 4 groups. Based on their own features, each group is generalised as below each student.
SERVICE STORY
Based on all the personas and context in UAL (context details at the bottom of the page), a student linking service is designed. The story of this service is shown by the video below.
ONLINE PROTOTYPE
As the video shows, students who want to publish a collaborate project could post a project brief via below prototype.
Students who want to join a project could browse the project list via below prototype.
SERVICE SUSTAINABILITY
This STUDENT LINK service is a combination of two functional parts. One is the CALL-FOR-PROJECT, another one is the informal MENTORING SERVICE. The two service support each other from the functional features.
In the UAL society with the service of STUDENT LINK, when the number of user of Call-For-Project reaches a certain number, it is a good human resource for mMentoring Service. At the same time, this informal Mentoring Service would attract new arrived students (like Vivian in the film) to join in.
SERVICE BLUEPRINT 1
The service is a combination of two service part, a call-for-project service and a mentoring service.
Service blueprint of call-for-project shows the service system between students who want to promote a project and students who want to join a project.
SELF-RENEW ABILITY
IN THE SERVICE SYSTEM
Projects are posted by the person whoever has ideas. So in the Call-For-Project eco system, there are no fixed roles. Who has an idea, who would post a call for. Hence, the role of the team promoter and the team member is possible exchange.
This dynamic builds an in system self-renew, in sense of the project users.
SERVICE BLUEPRINTS 2
Service blueprint of mentoring service shows the service system between informal student mentor and junior student mentee.
SELF-RENEW ABILITY
IN THE SERVICE SYSTEM
Junior students enjoyed the support from the senior students. Based on the “giving something back” thoughts in the university. It is possible for the junior students to become a mentor when they become a senior student.
This dynamic builds a self- renew, in the sense of the role of a mentor.
DESIGN PROCESS
DISCOVER
Co-Discovery Diary | DISCOVER
To understand students’ daily routine
To identify the physical touchpoints of language using
To learn about their feelings and emotions.
Insights
Once it is not necessary for the specific international student to communicate with someone who speak English, most likely the mother language of that student will be used much more often than English language.
Self-Experiment
Because as an international student, I feel isolated and lonely to study aboard. I was not able to become independent and could not really get out of my existing cultural circles. I matched the feature of my target users. So I used myself as a study subject.
Insights
Providing a chance of interaction with others to the student, it does improve a kind of satisfaction to the student.
(Even though I cannot describe the satisfaction and reason clearly now.)
Experiment On Participants | Discover
The Self-experiment was very personal. To explore the problem area more, I introduced the self-experiment to two other students and I invited them to join the experiment with me. They followed my requests and record their thoughts and emotion changes as a diary.
Insights
During the experiment, one participant did not follow what I asked her to do. Another participant gave me a feedback as the satisfaction of travelling is not about an improvement, it just because the person is teared out of the problem for that time.
Their feedbacks are still important resource for this project. But it does not really help the process of the discovery.
Interviews | Discover
I did interviews among staff and students in University of The Arts London.
Insights
it is quite different between EU students and non-EU students.
There are a lots services provided to all of the international students. But usually, students do not realise the existence of the service.
DEFINE
Journey Maps | Define
I interviewed three students to catch their journey of asking other students for help.
PROBLEM AREA
As the journey map showed that fining students wanted to help with the project was easy. However, when they discussed the available time to work together, a lot negative emotion was generated. This problem area is also the design space.
DEVELOP
Co-Design Activity | Develop
I interviewed three students to catch their journey of asking other students for help.
PROBLEM AREA
As the journey map showed that fining students wanted to help with the project was easy. However, when they discussed the available time to work together, a lot negative emotion was generated. This problem area is also the design space.
DELIVER
BUSINESS CANVAS | DELIVER
COMPETITORS ANALYSIS | DELIVER