Postgraduate Course: Designing and Delivering Public Services (EFIE11536)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Public services not only comprise an important element of the economy of the developed and developing world, they are also essential for a vibrant economy and society. This course addresses the challenges of understanding, designing and managing public services 'as services' whilst also asking what distinctive challenges their 'public' nature present. |
| Course description |
This course draws upon service management, service design, and public management theory in interrogating the nature of public services and their management. It also draws upon other key disciplines such as social policy.
The initial stages of the course introduce students to public service trends and management reforms, before going onto explore key concepts and themes. These include the concepts of co-production and co-design, and the key roles of staff, managers and service designers within public service delivery and design activities. The course then considers the key elements of Public Service Logic, and the creation and co-creation of value in Public Service Ecosystems. Public Service Design approaches are integrated to this perspective, and practical activities enable students to explore the design and delivery of public services within the service ecosystem that public services inhabit. Seminars and group work will consider issues including: how the monitoring and evaluation of services link to their re-design; improving equity of access; and how public services seek to add value to citizens' lives.
Students will have access to insights from practice through pre-recorded and/or in class speakers who are managers and designers within public services. Students will have the opportunity to explore service delivery, service management and service design through their application to current public service challenges. Course activities will link where possible to real world projects and if possible, the engagement work taking place within EFI via the Public Services Sector Engagement Lead.
Learning and teaching activities will comprise of a mixture of lectures, seminar discussions, group and individual activities. These will deepen understanding of the key concepts through application to case studies and practice examples.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute delivers many of its courses in hybrid mode. This means that you may have some online students joining sessions for this course. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: in some cases, students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- All presentations, and whole class discussions will be recorded (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details).
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, a physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Individual Written Assignment (100%)
Students will write an Individual written assignment (2,800 word essay, plus a slide deck relating to a specific theme in the essay).
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Students will receive feedback at various points during the course. In the later stages of the course this will include formative feedback to assist in the development of individual assignment submissions, followed by written feedback on the summative assignment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Express a critical understanding of the practice and challenges of public service design and delivery and their location within a public service ecosystem.
- Demonstrate understanding of the roles played by services users, service designers and managers in the design and delivery of public services.
- Critically evaluate the processes of public service design and delivery, including analysing equity of access to services.
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Reading List
Osborne, S. P.; Nasi, G; Powell, M., (2021) Beyond co-production: Value creation and public services. Public Administration 99(4), 2021-12, 641 - 657
Osborne, S. P.; Strokosch, K (2022) Participation: Add-on or core component of public service delivery? Australian Journal of Public Administration, 81(1), 2022-03-01, 181 - 20
Dietrich, T., Trischler, J., Schuster, L. & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2017) Co-designing services with vulnerable consumers. Journal of Service Theory and Practice. 27 (3), 663-688.
Osborne, S.P. (2020a) Public Service Logic: Creating Value for Public Service Users, Citizens, and Society Through Public Service Delivery. First edition. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY, Routledge.
Trischler, J., Dietrich, T. & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2019) Co-design: from expert- to user-driven ideas in public service design. Public management review. 21 (11), 1595-1619. doi:10.1080/14719037.2019.1619810.
The Right Way to Lead Design Thinking by Christian Bason and Robert Auston (2019) in Harvard Business Review
https://www.gov.scot/publications/the-scottish-approach-to-service-design/
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles
https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-resources/systemic-design-framework/ |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Public Services,Public Administration,Social and Healthcare,Value Creation,Service Design,Delivery |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Katharine Aulton
Tel: (0131 6)50 8074
Email: Katharine.Aulton@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr David Murphy
Tel:
Email: dmurphy7@ed.ac.uk |
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