Portsmouth Business School
Students use business brains to bring joy to local community
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:45:00 BST
Older people in the south of England have been visiting the Taj Mahal from the comfort of their armchairs, thanks to students from the University of Portsmouth.
The second year business students have been examining problems faced by local organisations including care homes, and applying innovative thinking free of charge.
Care charity Brendoncare, which runs 10 care centres and 60 friendship clubs across the south. The charity wanted to look at using technology with their residents in order to improve their lives and reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The students used laptops to enable the older people to speak to their relatives using video calling software, as well as taking them on a tour of the Taj Mahal, and other places around the world, using streetview technology.
Ron Staker, chief executive of Brendoncare, said: ‘The students used the technology to transform a group of very sceptical over-75s into energetic, enquiring minds. The real benefit for them is being able to remain in touch with loved ones who they rarely see.
‘They are also able to enjoy travel and explore new and wondrous places through the internet, and to find limitless games, puzzles and entertainment previously only accessible in books or on video. It is clear there are untold opportunities for IT to give older people a real boost.’
As well as credit towards their degree, the students gained valuable work experience and an opportunity to develop personal initiative, qualities that will be sure to impress potential employers.
Student Kimberley Marriott said: ‘We researched what other organisations have done and what was available. Then we visited four care centres and tried out some different ideas with the residents. Hewlett Packard kindly donated four laptops for our project.’
At the conclusion of the project the students presented a proposed IT strategy to Brendoncare.
A new batch of students are available this November to examine a range of solutions to business needs. If your organisation would like to get involved contact Michael.Buchan@port.ac.uk