Work /

CROSS-DISCIPLINE EDUCATION

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Company

BrainStation

Main roles

Creative Direction, Educator

Category

Service Design

Project timeline

8 weeks

Background

Each cohort I observed a remarkable transformation in UX students. What I also observed, was the separate disciplines coming together for 3D - a hackathon with Data, Design, Development

Launch project

The Problem Opportunity

Each discipline was heads down in their specialization for 10 weeks. While completely necessary, it meant a cross-discipline hackathon where collaboration was an unknown.

In student feedback, communication and collaboration appeared as pain-points across all 3 disciplines, with some requests for a PdM to mitigate. This led me to wonder HMW... make the unknown known... cross the disciplines... teach a common language


Student (customer)

Immediate opportunity was to improve the hackathon experience. Zooming out, there was an opportunity to provide more 'real work' experience, which students may not have, and that may change interviews, portfilios, and outcomes.

Service

With the goal of career transformation, there was an opportunity to address the industry demand for work experience, and "collaboration" as a core competency. More importantly, was the point of difference in education, and the potential for a unique offering.

The solution

Cross-discipline touch-points.

Begining Fall 2019, in partnership with the experience team, we introduced three syncs to develop the foundations for communication and collaboration, and prep students for 3D.

  • Meet the different disciplines
  • Explore overlap and what collaboration might look like
  • Practice workflow and handoff

In education, I defined the overlap between disciplines, identifying opportunities for cross-discipline lectures and guest lecture topics.

Winter 2020 I designed and led BrainStation's first cross-discipline lecture, including a hand-off lab between Design and Development.

Outcome & Next Steps

While I would love to speak to the quantitative data (I would if I could), this quote was memorable in summarizing the qualitative sentiment.

"I can't imagine doing it cold like before..."

Of course, design is never done, so there are minor refinements to be made, and many next steps to prioritize. In my design backlog, some cross-discipline education opportunities I hoped to explore:

  • Design systems and tools (eg. Storybook)
  • Research, personas, and cluster analysis
  • Information communication and data visualizations
  • A/b testing and canary releases
  • Digital ethics

An Unexpected Delighter

With V1 introduction of cross-functional syncs, I saw cross-discipline friendships forming. While this wasn't one of the key objectives, it became one, as students would graduate with a larger network and community.