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“EXCELLENCE THROUGH KNOWLEDGE” P A G E 112 Research-Based Design: The Story of the Multi-Purpose Bed Editor’s Note: Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies Lecturer, Mr. Dean Reid guided his students on an innovative project which entailed designing a two-in-one multi-purpose student bed. The project was conceptualized by a group of Industrial Technology students in fulfillment of the requirements for their science and technology seminars. Because of the potential positive impacts of this project – quality of life and commercial - it was featured in an article in the Jamaica Observer Newspaper, which is reproduced below. A Break for University Students Dean Reid (left), UTech Lecturer in the Industrial Technology Department, and his students (from second left) Jevonne Simpson, Marlo McIntosh, Montel Thaxter, Starate Cameron, and Kevin Beckford. A lecturer and his students at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica in St Andrew believe they have found the perfect solution to address crammed living spaces in the university community through the invention of a multi-purpose bed which also doubles as a table and display area. The team is currently looking at ways to add a chest of drawers to the design which would see students not requiring to have anything else in their dorms or small rented rooms. Dean Reid, lecturer in the Industrial Technology Department, said the invention has great commercial potential. “We believe we have created the solution that can help boarders -- and this is an idea that can be published all over in every university environment -- and so it has great commercial potential,” Reid said as he gave the Jamaica Observer a preview of the item which will be on display at the university’s Research and Technology Day. According to Reid, the idea for the multi-purpose bed was conceptualised by the students in their science and technology seminars which required them to come up with solutions for problems existing in the society. He noted that while he gave them basic guidance, they were the ones who did most of the work. “They went out and looked in the university community in Papine and its environs where several persons have boarding accommodations which are not very large. Most of them are themselves part of some boarding accommodation one way or the other, so they looked at the situations that exist and they decided they would come up with a solution, and that’s how the idea of the multi-purpose bed was born,” Reid told a special sitting of the Observer Press Club at UTech last Wednesday. He explained that the project also included a research component as this was what informed the design. “We looked into the university (UTech) dormitory. We looked into all the communities around Papine and we had samples of houses that were selected and we went and looked at the amount By Ingrid Brown, Associate Editor - Special Assignment Jamaica Observer, Saturday, March 07, 2015