A new interactive wall will teach students about global food systems.
The new teaching wall, located in Frazier Rogers Hall, will have icons of plants and animals that students can click on to learn where food comes from, said James Anderson, director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at UF. The wall, which will be touchscreen, is up, but the software has yet to be installed. The project will cost less than $50,000.
The institute started planning the wall about six months ago, Anderson said.
Professors can also add their research to the wall, he said. Students will be able to use the wall to contact professors doing research in areas they are interested in.
The wall will contain large screens and computers to interact with, wrote John Tucker, a developer for the wall, in an email.
“Once setup, there is a fair amount of programming that needs to be done,” he said.
Anderson said he will judge how successful the wall is when students interact with it.
He said he wants to establish a situation room where students and community members can use mock scenarios to figure out how to create sustainable public policies.
“Its potential is limitless,” Anderson said.
