• Services

    Services and spaces need to be designed in an integrated way and informed by user research. Services should also be designed to maximize not just provider-efficiency but rather user-effectiveness as well. With this toolkit — building on the user research tools offered in the Needs Assessment section of the toolkit — we aim to provide a process and the tools for designing, operating, and evaluating services within learning spaces.

    The services within a learning space might include tutorials, classes, readings, meet-ups, meeting facilitation, research consultation, writing and presentation coaching, or technology lending and support – to name a few. As an interface between people and the spaces they inhabit, these and other services can determine what kind of experience a student or faculty member will have as much as physical characteristics do.

    When all this is done right, services can build skills, knowledge, and community as well as increase engagement. They can provide for a more personalized experience that accommodates different learning styles. They can enable better sharing of resources and ensure spaces are active and well-utilized.

     


    Guiding Principles
    Strategic considerations and best-practices for designing, delivering, and evaluating support services

    Service Design Process
    An overview of the Service Design process

    Personas Overview
    Portraits of hypothetical users’ motivations and behaviors, used to help facilitate a user-centered planning process

    Service Location Planner
    Tool designed to optimally tie the service with the physical dimensions of space

    Journey Map Overview
    References and links to resources in diagramming and highlighting the touchpoints the users engage with

    Service Blueprint
    Tool designed to comprehensively outline and validate the mechanism of the service(s) in play

    Staffing Services
    A reference to holistically assess staffing needs for Public Services, IT, Facilities etc. and help plan deployment per spaces offered

    Resources
    References and links to resources in supporting learning spaces

    Tips for Success
    Key issues to be explored in revisiting the current and envisioning a new service model