Co-design of modern technology modules with industry and students as partners

It is essential to provide computing students with hands-on exposure to modern techniques and technologies such as cloud computing in an authentic and engaging fashion, but universities can be slow to respond to fast-moving technologies. Co-design is a process in which other stakeholders, such as members of the student body and industrial partners can take part in the initial design process of a resource or service. Our approach was to embed co-design into the creation of a new responsive module to address the topic of cloud computing, leading to the creation of overall concepts as well as specific curriculum, learning outcomes and assessments. To implement this module in a cost-effective and timely manner a private cloud solution was created requiring significant up-skilling of staff but allowing a proof-of-concept delivery with no financial risk. The module following the co-design process was highly successful and well regarded by students and employers, allowing further financial investment and improvement to resources. To ensure the co-design process was sustainable, an iterative approach was taken with continual review and improvements leading to further refinement and increases in quality. The resulting module quickly became the most popular optional computing module and has garnered positive feedback from students, examiners and employers. We are now using this as a model to show how such an approach can deliver low-risk agile responses to emerging topics.