Creating Attractive
Schools
This project was developed as an introductory and exploratory task for the first application stage of a Master’s program in Service Design (SDSI). The brief was "Education and the Future of Learning" and proposed a broad, systemic challenge and focused on research, insight generation, and strategic thinking rather than implementation.
I used by own background working in a public school as a designer to develop the task and it was my first contact with service design as it self. The assignment consisted of 3 components 1) Select and examine an existing research on an issue related to education, 2) Define the challenge or problem in an essay up to 1000 words and 3) Record a video of myself presenting my proposed solution.
Year: 2025
Key words: Service Design · Speculative Design • Public Education · Systems Thinking · Social Impact · Strategy Design
The challenge:
How to make state schools more attractive and technological, involving all of their agents?
To start solving that, I went back to the last paragraph of my essay, where I came up with some hypotheses about the root causes and transformed them in insights:
For each insight, I developed unfoldings that dialogued with one another within the same theme. These included quotes drawn from my daily experience in a public school (from teachers and students) as well as from research sources and resources I consulted while developing the task. Afterwards, personas were made to represent each insight, shaping and bringing these perspectives to life as I grouped them within a connections and feelings map. This process ultimately allowed me to define a solution strategy directed at the multifaceted challenges experienced in state public schools.
SOLUTIONS:​
First providing the basics then collaborate, hire & integrate
​
• Creation of a work plan between governments and technology companies to offer basic introductory technology courses, focused on students, within schools;
• Development of a social policy for the inclusion of technology companies in the school agenda of state schools, where real company problems are studied by students, introducing a project-based methodology. In return, companies receive tax incentives;
• Project for restructuring school infrastructure with the participation of companies, as well as the donation of simple technological equipment, such as computers and tablets for reading e-books;
• Once students have already completed basic courses and are familiar with technology, events are implemented into the schedules of state schools, such as Hackathons, Bootcamps, "Late Night Creative Jam," itinerant innovation labs and book clubs;
• Focus on utilizing the school's physical space, engaging all students in the final years of elementary school, captivating and involving them;
• Short-term digital literacy courses within the school space, aimed at students' families, fostering inclusion and a sense of belonging;
• Recruiting Young Apprentices for companies within schools: educating, developing, and hiring these students who have gone through the tech+school company journey. Educate them = hire them.
