Professional Services case studies
Below are some real-life examples form across the university of how co-creation can work in Professional Services.
Black History Month
“Co-creation helped us to really understand what the students wanted and that they wanted to see”
Usually the turnout of students, especially black students’ attendance to a DSU Black History month event is extremely low. So for 2019, De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU) set out to break the boundaries that can limit engagement with BAME students by working with them to engage them more in the event.
Three cultural society leaders were invited to be part of the BHM planning group along with individual students who were helping to plan the event too. Students gave their feedback on the initial plan for the event and were the given a specific area of the event to focus on and ‘own’.
The event needed to both educate and entertain and students were instrumental in the delivery of this. They suggested guest speakers and other entertainment, contributed to the design of marketing materials and managed and ran the event itself.
As a result, DSU have been able to engage with more BAME students and it gave the students a greater sense of belonging to their union which they were keen to continue in the future.
Interfaith Week
“We have learnt that having students involved throughout the planning process not only gets more students attending events and creating a bigger message but also revitalises what was thought to be a rather dull campaign.”
Interfaith week was a week of events planned between De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU), the university and students. The aim was to spread messages of harmony and links between faith groups across campus but also those that had no faith so they could learn more about worship practices.
The aim was to get students more involved in the organising of the events so that they would be more like to come along than previously as it was catered to themselves.
Students were contacted by utilising the ‘Collective Action’ group the Union has set up as well as contacting religious groups by attending their events. Students came up with ideas and gave feedback on the planned events in order to get a varied group of students engaged with the events.
Events throughout the week included: handing out white roses with religious scripture on them, an event with stalls and food which anyone could attend to learn about faith, a joint service in the Chaplaincy as well as other events in partnership with #DMUActive including interfaith football and Mindfulness Yoga.
Compared to previous Interfaith weeks, the co-creation with students reinvigorated the event and it further collaboration is planned for next year.
Leicester Media School Drawings Centre (LMSDC) in collaboration with #HealthyDMU
“It has unexpectedly encouraged students to talk about their own experiences and share with one another the different coping mechanism and strategies they had used to help with their personal situations. The students understood the ethos of the project and were happy to develop photography, graphic design and produce a database of imagery for the project board as they felt they were giving back to a very worthwhile cause.”
#HealthyDMU incorporates a number of university-wide activities and one strand of this is the #HealthyDMU Hub. The Hub is a signposting tool which directs students to health and wellbeing advice and activities. These webpages required a large bank of images to excite and interest our students and reflect the individuality and diversity of our students at DMU.
The LMSDC were approached about the possibility of co-creating images for the Hub. The Centre focuses on developing visual acuity for students in the Faculty of Computer Engineering and Media and aims to facilitate learning in conjunction with workshops and lecture-based activities.
DMUactive, a daily programme of free recreational sports opportunities for students was identified as an ideal setting for the images. A live brief was shared with LMSDC students who then photographed a variety of activities such as basketball, badminton and dodgeball and then edited them for use on the Hub.
Benefits of the collaboration include:
- Students felt they had ownership and are using the imagery and the graphics as part of their visual portfolios.
- The studio benefited as the teaching material has been put into practice involving a live brief.
- #HealthyDMU has benefited by using students at the heart of the project to facilitate the ethos of the brand and how a healthier lifestyle can positively impact on our student’s wellbeing and performance at university.