To achieve a line of best fit, our current UKRI project centres on the co-design of two immersive training scenarios for students and professionals alike. Simply expressed, co-design is concerned with the meaningful involvement of end users in the design process. Participatory design is an integral element of co-design, enabling the translation of expert knowledge into user driven ideas that hold value to the end user. It also ameliorates the risk of designing content that is unfit for our target audiences.
The Design Council2 proposes an innovative design methodology comprising of four stages, coined the Double Diamond to co-design content:
- Discover: Understand and explore the training challenge from the ‘inside out’, to remove any biases and preconceived ideas around the challenge.
- Define: Define the training challenge in tandem with clients e.g., definition of learning outcomes.
- Develop: Develop and shape potential training scenarios in tandem with key stakeholders, prior to developing the training solution. Within this phase, we created iteration ‘touch points’ to accurately shape the solution prior to product development.
- Deliver: Produce the training content for evaluation by key stakeholders, with the end goal to evaluate and facilitate future iterations.
We have incepted each pillar into this project to develop meaningful immersive training products facilitating co-design workshops.
If activities are too structured , stakeholders don’t have any space to be creative. Conversely, activities that lack structure may mean the workshop tumbles into too much irrelevant discussion, creating disparate threads of thought. It is a magic moment, when suddenly a stakeholder group experiences a moment of clarity, to achieve a consensus of ideas that drive the design process forwards.
Whilst we can’t reveal the details of exactly what we’re developing, we hope this blog has provided some insight into the design practices and approaches The VR Hive adopts. Our UKRI project concludes in March – Keep an eye out for updates! In the meantime, Dr Clare Carolan at UHI will join us as a guest in our February podcast to discuss immersive technologies in healthcare training.
Further Reading
NHS (2018) National Framework for Simulation Based Education (SBE).
Design Council (2022) What is the framework for innovation? Design Council’s evolved Double Diamond.
References
World Health Organisation (2016) Health workforce requirements for universal health coverage and the sustainable development goals. [Accessed 25 January 2022].
Borgstrom
