NTU wins two awards for innovation in education

SINGAPORE — Nanyang Technological University (NTU) won two Asia-Pacific awards for innovative approaches in education today (Dec 30).

The two Wenhui Awards were given to Dr Yuhyun Park for her project “iZ Hero Adventure” and Assistant Professor Nanci Takeyama for her project “From Anthropology to Design”.

Dr Park’s project, iZ Hero Adventure, is based on a digital media platform that aims to teach children about digital citizenship, moral character and critical thinking.

As an educational entertainment programme with animated characters, iZ Hero (iZ stands for Infollution Zero) tackles information pollution on the Internet including obscene and violent content, abusive language, sexual predators, cyber bullies, and technology addiction.

Dr Park, Director of Academic Projects at the President’s Office, said: “This award recognises the importance of our pioneering efforts in digital safety education for children and youths. I think there should be more such innovative efforts in educating our young on the dangers of the Internet as the situation is getting increasingly critical globally.”

Asst Prof Takeyama’s project, From Anthropology to Design, aimed to create holistic models for design partnerships with nonprofit craft-based communities in Southeast Asia. This is to ensure the creation of crafts and products that preserve cultural integrity, enhance the quality of craftsmanship and consequently, improve the livelihoods of the artisans.

For a start, she had chosen Lao People’s Democratic Republic because of its invaluable woven textiles. Her team then started to research the ethnographic documentation of the Laotian culture, which helped to increase understanding and re-interpretation of the living culture of Laotian communities today through its most important symbol, the Cosmic Serpent.

“A key question that arose from the project was how designers can help to bridge the knowledge gap among academics, artisans and communities, and I believe that our work has helped to answer that question,” said the NTU designer from the School of Art, Design and Media.

The Wenhui Award, jointly established by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development and the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO, recognises projects which emphasise the potential of education and the human innovative spirit to address and resolve pressing issues and problems.