Professor David Swann wins a Future Impact Pencil at the D&AD Awards

We are delighted to announce that Cant Wait to Learn: Digital Tablet Desk by Professor David Swann has received a Future Impact Pencil at the D&AD Awards 2020! The D&AD Awards celebrates creative and craft excellence in design and advertising.

Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child has the right to a formal education. War Child Holland’s Can’t Wait to Learn programme (CWTL) uses culturally sensitive games to educate children who, as a result of armed conflict, have never seen a teacher.

A CWTL trial in Sudan revealed an unmet need: a lack of classroom furniture compelled e-learners to use tablet devices for long periods while floor sitting. This digital tablet desk (DTD) resolves the ergonomic challenge while being sympathetic to local manufacturing skills.

Professor David Swann’s award winning research supports the scaling up of Warchild’s eLearning initiative to provide basic education through gamification to vulnerable children, former child soldiers, children in remote areas, displaced children and street children. In Sudan it is estimated that 1.8 million primary school-aged children have no access to primary education. The eLearning Sudan project is funded by DFID, UNICEF and UNHCR’s Humanitarian Education Accelerator.

The primary aim of this collaboration is to support the implementation of a six-month pilot in conjunction with Sudan’s Ministry of Education. The ongoing research involves Anthony Jones from Sheffield Hallam’s Design Futures, and seeks to establish the performance requirements for this innovative tablet support device to address poor posture issues associated with prolonged floor sitting. The research is supported by the Art and Design Research Centre.