The Jefferson Center of Immersive Arts for Health
Contact
- Director, Jefferson Center of Immersive Arts for Health
- Professor, Industrial Design
Open-Source Curriculum
The curriculum listed below focuses on light's psychological and physiological impact on health. While there is a substantial amount of curriculum available on Arts for Health, Neuroaesthetics, and the field of Lighting Design, the field of New Media Arts, which relies on the use of dynamic lighting to create an immersive experience, is relatively new and very little has been published regarding the health impact of light – dynamic light to be specific. The curriculum below covers a wide range of information on how light impacts us, psychologically and through our neuroendocrine, neurobehavioral, and circadian systems.
Light4Health
The Light4Health project, funded by Erasmus+, was initiated by Associate Professor Godley of Jefferson University and ITMO University of St Petersburg, Russia. Other partners include the University of Wolverhampton/UK, Aalborg University/Denmark, Hochschule Wismar/Germany, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology/Sweden. The key aim of LIGHT4HEALTH was to build higher education capacity for lighting design through teaching associated innovative physiological and psychological health research methods and findings, data collection and analysis skills, design, and digital competencies. Using three workshops with students throughout 2019-2021, we developed materials for an open-access online course to provide knowledge about health-related research, tools, and methods relevant to lighting design.
Previous knowledge in lighting design is required as this course is for students and professionals in lighting design.
The curriculum is free and open source. Light4Health Online Course
Lessons on Light & Health
Funded by the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education Award, this curricular proposal was to fully develop and deliver a new lighting course, “Lighting and Health,” which examines light's visual and physiological effects on human health. This course will more actively link the design programs of Jefferson (Industrial, Interior, and Architecture) with the Jefferson Light Research Program, headed by Dr. George (Bud) Brainard. The interdisciplinary approach to this course will open up the curriculum to students across the above design disciplines and our medical disciplines. It included the development of modules that may be used for additional courses across a variety of disciplines. The two-year grant ended in December 2023. The project's curricular results are open-source and have been shared with several lighting programs internationally.
A background in lighting design education is not required for the curriculum to be of benefit.
The curriculum is free and open source. Lessons on Light and Health