Visualizing issues in Pharmacy Project

I  Pharmacy projects home I  Benchmarking Project  I

The Creative Waves 2007 - Visualizing Issues in Pharmacy (VIP) project was a joint collaboration between the Omnium Research Group at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales and the School of Pharmacy at the University of Auckland.

The project brought together over 50 pharmacy students and 50 design students, with project convenors, teachers and special guests worldwide, to work collaboratively within a fully online learning environment with the aim to raise public awareness of health-related issues affecting a community in Kenya.

The VIP project was carried out over 12 weeks, commencing in April 2007 and concluding in June 2007. Weeks 1-7 involved the pharmacy research, overlapping for two weeks with the graphic design period, which ran from weeks 6-12. The final design outcomes were customised health promotion materials for the local community and included four striking football uniforms with a ‘Stop HIV’ message in the local language of Luo; a collection of educational malaria cards in the form of a children’s game designed for use in schools; and various stickers with health messages for use in health centers, hospitals and public places. In addition to these design outcomes, an assortment of rich and valuable resources, links and lectures were supplied by mentors, coordinators and students for the VIP project. (For more information about the project, go to http://creativewaves.omnium.net.au/vip )

In January 2010, Nataly Martini travelled to Winam (Kenya) to investigate the effect that the malaria card game had on knowledge and awareness of malaria amongst school children. A questionnaire and focus groups were held with 120 primary school children and ca. 30 teachers across three schools. Whilst there are no publishable results yet, student and teacher responses look promising. The children enjoyed interacting with the card game and have requested more games to be made to encourage their learning.

To learn more, see the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRQ7Qa_QyM4&feature=player_embedded

Contacts

Nataly Martini