DE7061 - Major Service Design Project &Thesis

Through studying this module and undertaking the accompanying Personal Development Plan (PDP), you will learn through a combination of tutorials, seminars, tutor-guided independent learning and student independent learning. Through tutorial support and studio-based feedback, you will be expected to take responsibility for your own creative development and learning for this self-directed project.



You will receive formative feedback throughout the module, with peer evaluation serving as an essential activity. This will provide you with the opportunity to reflect on feedback before submission. More specifically, you will be engaging in 5 fortnightly lectures followed by a supervised studio sessions to enable you to put theory into practice. In addition, you will be required to meet your designated thesis supervisor for one-to-one tutorials on a weekly basis. Practical classes and workshops are scheduled on a weekly basis for both service and product pathways to enable you to produce more focused and specific design work associated with your own area of project investigation.


The learning gained through previous modules will aid your research activities for this self-led module to identify knowledge, methods and concepts that will provide the grounding for your personal investigated topic.

Collaboration within the University and externally with professional networks, manufacturers, organisations and experts is inherent in the module design and delivery and will enable you to implement product design work into the commercial and/or academic environment. The professional communities and networks you build will enable you to engage with, or return to, the workplace with greater impact.

You will be supported by academic experts who will facilitate discussion in one-to-one tutorials and group critiques around your chosen subject of inquiry in scheduled timetabled sessions and directed study. These formal conversations are opportunities for you to receive immediate feedback on on-going work and to act on that feedback. You will keep a record of this formative feedback in order to progress your work to enhance your skills and intellectual understanding and execute your personal development plan which in turn will lead your practice. You will be part of a community of practice that will provide a topic ‘hub’ for cross-organisational collaboration and peer discussion.

You will be involved in reflective practice, which is inherent to the practice of the School. The Masters programme curriculum has been developed to capitalise on the extensive, active and well-defined research emphasis of the School and channel this expertise into the postgraduate programmes. Where appropriate, you will be supported in developing relationships with material suppliers and potential companies that may support and have input into your developing proposal.

Further formal academic support is provided via information posted on E-Learning Portal.

Where appropriate, you may also be directed to engage with Study Skills +, or other resources offered through the University Student Support Services such as Dyslexia Support.

The library is open 24 hours a day and E-Learning Portal houses all your module documents including your timetable. These services can be accessed on a range of devices.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding (K&U):

Critically reflect on and justify your product design output as a genuinely valuable resource for business and/or society.

Critically reflect on and justify your product design process.



Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities (IPSA):

Synthesize a product design process based on your personal development learnings (PDP).

Create an innovative product design output through tangible experimentation.

Communicate your product design output and process to a professional standard.

Reflect on how your product design output emerged from the research and creative activities in your product design process.



Personal Values Attributes (PVA) (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity):

Refine your professional practice capabilities through developmental dialogue with relevant academics, professional groups and communities.

Explain the one main thing that you think makes either your product design process or output uniquely valuable.

At the start of the teaching block, you will be asked to submit 2,000 words draft thesis via Turnitin on Blackboard to receive specific formative feedback from your designated supervisor.



Formative feedback will be given during tutorials when on-going work, drafts and plans will be presented by students for review.



A mid-term individual viva based on the student's presentation which summarises the undertaken research and up to date design progression of planned project final outputs.



More specifically the viva relates to MLO K&U 1, 2; IPSA 3, 5; and PVA 2.



This summative feedback will help you to prepare for a final submission consisting of:


1. A practical design project supported by a 5000-6000 word project report that represents the culmination and consolidation of your work in the theoretical area of study.



Or




2. A research paper of 5000-6000 words representing your investigation into research through design.


Your submission will be of an original and innovative nature and will demonstrate advanced scholarship in the communication of a personally investigated topic that reaches an analytical and creative conclusion.


Summative feedback will include assessment of your submission against module learning outcomes and assessors’ comments.

DE7037, DE7038, DE7039, DE7040

DE7043, DE7044

Now is your chance to design the future! This major product design project/thesis module allows you to focus on designing products or integrated product-service systems for connected futures, with reflection on and synthesis of previous learnt product and service systems design principles, approaches and practices.



This module provides the platform from which you will engage with in-depth reflection, analysis and synthesis based upon your major product design project/thesis for such as product design for enterprise productivity and sustainability.



The project thesis topic is normally self-selected but it can also be based on a design brief provided by a research group within the university (usually an IDRT) or an external company/organisation.



You will be expected to take an increasingly autonomous approach to your studies at this stage in developing, embedding and clarifying personally developed research themes theories and experiences.