Building on Classroom Knowledge to Tackle Social Gaps

In 2021, students from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) designed the gamification features for a mobile application to help kindergarteners and their parents from lower-income households learn about healthy eating. Students and faculty members from diverse academic disciplines came together to gamify content that would appeal to the young ones and encourage parent-child bonding.

This is just one of the projects currently facilitated by the Community Leadership and Social Innovation Centre (CLASIC) at SIT. Established in October 2020, CLASIC is a one-stop centre that curates, optimises and tracks community initiatives and projects across SIT, with the mission to deepen students’ understanding of societal needs and motivate them to draw on their knowledge to benefit the community beyond SIT.

In another project, students of a recently concluded engineering-based project led by Engineering faculty Assoc Prof Steven Tay – to create a smart water meter to help lower-income families track and optimise their water usage – has been awarded a S$15,000 grant by CLASIC to further develop the product and to conduct a trial in rental flats. The Singapore Plumbing Society has generously agreed to sponsor the installation of the devices in 20 pilot households.

Since its inception, CLASIC has harnessed SIT students’ academic potential, supporting beneficiaries through practical solutions and innovations.

For the full interview by GovInsider with Prof Yaacob Ibrahim, Director, CLASIC, and Assoc Prof Intan Azura Mokhtar, Deputy Director, CLASIC, on how CLASIC helps to set SIT apart in the higher education space, please go to SIT’s Digital Newsroom: https://www.singaporetech.edu.sg/digitalnewsroom/how-universities-can-build-on-classroom-knowledge-to-tackle-social-gaps/