VIII. Service Proposition

Overview

We provide an integrated physical and digital working platform that boosts your study performance, together with your peers. "Aha! Space" is the place to learn how to learn. It has the rooms to dramatically improve your productivity with a unique time structure, and also comes with organised workshops by the student associations that you can go to with your teammates to learn soft skills. With "Aha! App" you can do the productivity sessions by yourself, and with your friends, virtually, anywhere and anytime you want.

Aha! Space

“Aha! Space” is located at the heart of redesigned Otakaari Street, and provides two modes of servicesto guide students learn how to learn: one is to help develop productive working routine, and the other isto support student-led co-learning activities.

Designed for your study success.

In Aha! Space, you will experience a very unique yet effective study environment where everyone in the room following the Pomodoro Technique of 25-minute work and 5-minute break repeatedly. There is a big stop watch on the wall, and the faintnatural sounds help students focus on the work during the working time, and relaxing musics during the break time inform students to take a break. This happens in both the individualwork space and group-work space. Having everyone around you concentrating helps to discipline yourself, and having everyone take a break at the same time also works to study without getting tired. This time structure shared with people around creates a sense of belonging and an environment for spontaneous interactions among students.

Through a very simple mechanism of providing time-based guidance and a little bit of social pressure, the service has the effect of a productive learning experience and social connection.

Workshops to learn soft skills.

Aha! Space provides not only the space to study and work, but also collaborates with different student associations and university faculties to run a series of workshops and sessions on various topics. This will include time management workshops to help students plan better preventing them from falling into the vicious cycle of non-plan, concentrated workload and burn-out, stress management sessions to learn how to control and relieve stress, team building workshop to help improve interdisciplinary collaboration, experience sharing sessions that help students choose courses and plan better based on real voices of the senior students, and more soft skills that are not being taught in or able to learn from the regular course works.

The contents and the structure of the workshops and sessions are designed in collaboration with the organiser such as student associations and university faculties. By being based on the specific working modes and needs of eachprogramme, the workshops are customised to be relevant to the participating students. We also provide the expertise of workshop facilitation for the student associations and faculty members to successfully organise their workshops.

Surrounded by nature.

People can enjoy the full benefit of nature that characterises the Otaniemi Campus. In collaboration with the Aalto architecture students, we redesigned Otakaari Road from a traffic road into a pedestrian street with different kinds of devices to keep people stay on, including a forest dining, grasslands, an outdoor cafe, and pop-up street markets. Aha! Space is on the ground floor of Otakaari 4 building located at the heart of this new Otakaari Street. It is the place where this nature-rich lively street meets the "green corridor" that connects the forest area in the west with the coastline area in the east.

Not only the outside green but also the indoor green we implement also plays an important role to keep students' mental wellbeing. Being located on the ground floor helps build up the sense of indoor-outdoor connection, which can also support students' activity during winter time.

Aha! App

Aha! App enables you to study in a similar environment as in Aha! Space, virtually at home. It connectsyou with your fellow students and maximises your productivity.

Boost your productivity together.

Through Aha! App, you can do your own Pomodoro cycles with your selected background sounds. The app gives you different types of tips before you start working and during the break time that help you keep focused as well as to relieve your stress and relax.

The app not only allows you to use the Pomodoro Techniqueon your own, but you can also synchronize the time with thephysical Aha! Space. Then you can see how many people arewoking in the physical and virtual Aha! space using this single timer at the moment. You can also add your friends within the app and open a virtual study room to do the work with them. These functions make you feel like you are working in the same space together with your fellow students, creating a sense of belongings even in virtual space.

Physical and digital integration.

Aha! Space and App work together in an integrated way. For example, when entering the Aha! Space, you will scan the QR code in the app, so the app starts track your working efforts. You will be able to look back later on and see how great you have worked on your study. Also, you can see how many people are using the space as well as the vacancy through the app and book a group work space. By scanning the QR code at the entrance of the Aha! Space, you can share with your group members that you are in the Space to invite them to work together. This can be a small nudge, improving study productivity together with your peers.

Achieve lifelong skills.

With Aha! Space and app, our service builds a strong circulation in the community, by giving all types of students the flexibility to choose what suits them the best. By utilizing the physical and virtual spaces can bring about the best outcome and support system for the student in their campus life. We would like to inspire and encourage students to use these spaces to self-learn and co-learn the skills they can carry on even after their graduation.

Scan the QR code at Aha! Space.

Share with your friends and teammates to work together.

Work together at Aha! Space :)