EXPERIMENTING
Solidarity in learning
A personal computer was connected to the internet and embedded into a brick wall around an informal playground nest to a residential slum in New Delhi. Within a few days it was noticed that groups of slum children aged eight to fourteen years were able to use the computer without any instruction. And taking the experiment forward, across the country, it was noticed that given adequate resources, groups of children were able to acquire computing skills without adult intervention. Thus, the first ‘hole-in-the-wall’ experiment in 1999 has, today, lead to open 84 such learning stations across rural centres in the country, with 45 others in process and a few in the offing abroad in countries like Cambodia and Africa.
“This raised a question,” says Parimala Inmadar. Head Design Lab, Center for Research in Cognitive Systems & Group Consultant at NIIT LTD, who was the Assistant Professor at the Center for Research in Cognitive Systems, the NIIT Institute of Information Technology, when the experiment was carried out. Dr Sugata Mitra who was the main driving force behind the experiment then, said the wall separated NIIT premises from the adjoining slum. “Within no time, curious children with most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English, began flocking to the machine, exploring it and figuring out which actions yielded results,” he says.
Inamdar goes on to ask: “What else could children learn on their own with appropriate technology?” Describing the results of her studies of technology-enabled study groups, Inamdar says that there were several astounding observations:
• Within a short span of time the children had reached very high levels in understanding and playing games in the PC, notwithstanding the fact that understanding of the operating system was necessary.
• Rural children were able to pass a curricular examination in computer science from their exploratory group learning at a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ learning station, with no classroom instruction for it at all.
“The way they were learning was a process of teaching, interaction, peer instruction and observation,” relates Inamdar. It was a method of random trying, accidental discovery, then understanding the operation, and repeating the process till they tire of it. Of course, then there was always another random trial waiting for them!
“What was interesting to note,” observes Inamdar. “is the method of information exchange, which clearly showed that it was collaborative effort, both physically and mentally.” The children started learning by mere visual identification of the icons, but gradually were picking up English terminology. “The challenge then widened to devising a visual-based text where children describe what each icon does,” she points out.
The experiment was then given a new shape in the form of a 10-day digital design workshop in three ecologically and culturally diverse rural areas, where children were exposed to art from different parts of the world by French artist Pascal Monte. “I wanted to leverage on the lack of language communication, and the ‘foreign-ness’ of the process,” says Inamdar. The children were first given time to observe and understand, and then given a free opportunity to create some of their own, albeit with digital aids. Surprisingly, they rapidly entered the world of digital imaging by observing the artist and collaboratively exploring high-end imaging software. The output of these workshops was later exhibited by the Pompidou Center, Paris.
The long term objectives of this research are to improve the outcome of elementary education, especially in government schools, with computer aided education in the class. As Inamdar puts it: “Research hopes to enhance the offerings and add value to both: the process and the pedagogy .”
Dr Mitra, who is now NIIT’s chief scientist emeritus and a professor of educational technology at the United Kingdom’s Newcastle University, aims to spread this model around the world to boost the learning and life skills of children, particularly those living in poverty and with few educational resources. Where conventional schools are absent or ineffective, the hole-in-the-wall web site says, the hands-off method could be a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyse learning.
A personal computer was connected to the internet and embedded into a brick wall around an informal playground nest to a residential slum in New Delhi. Within a few days it was noticed that groups of slum children aged eight to fourteen years were able to use the computer without any instruction. And taking the experiment forward, across the country, it was noticed that given adequate resources, groups of children were able to acquire computing skills without adult intervention. Thus, the first ‘hole-in-the-wall’ experiment in 1999 has, today, lead to open 84 such learning stations across rural centres in the country, with 45 others in process and a few in the offing abroad in countries like Cambodia and Africa.
“This raised a question,” says Parimala Inmadar. Head Design Lab, Center for Research in Cognitive Systems & Group Consultant at NIIT LTD, who was the Assistant Professor at the Center for Research in Cognitive Systems, the NIIT Institute of Information Technology, when the experiment was carried out. Dr Sugata Mitra who was the main driving force behind the experiment then, said the wall separated NIIT premises from the adjoining slum. “Within no time, curious children with most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English, began flocking to the machine, exploring it and figuring out which actions yielded results,” he says.
Inamdar goes on to ask: “What else could children learn on their own with appropriate technology?” Describing the results of her studies of technology-enabled study groups, Inamdar says that there were several astounding observations:
• Within a short span of time the children had reached very high levels in understanding and playing games in the PC, notwithstanding the fact that understanding of the operating system was necessary.
• Rural children were able to pass a curricular examination in computer science from their exploratory group learning at a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ learning station, with no classroom instruction for it at all.
“The way they were learning was a process of teaching, interaction, peer instruction and observation,” relates Inamdar. It was a method of random trying, accidental discovery, then understanding the operation, and repeating the process till they tire of it. Of course, then there was always another random trial waiting for them!
“What was interesting to note,” observes Inamdar. “is the method of information exchange, which clearly showed that it was collaborative effort, both physically and mentally.” The children started learning by mere visual identification of the icons, but gradually were picking up English terminology. “The challenge then widened to devising a visual-based text where children describe what each icon does,” she points out.
The experiment was then given a new shape in the form of a 10-day digital design workshop in three ecologically and culturally diverse rural areas, where children were exposed to art from different parts of the world by French artist Pascal Monte. “I wanted to leverage on the lack of language communication, and the ‘foreign-ness’ of the process,” says Inamdar. The children were first given time to observe and understand, and then given a free opportunity to create some of their own, albeit with digital aids. Surprisingly, they rapidly entered the world of digital imaging by observing the artist and collaboratively exploring high-end imaging software. The output of these workshops was later exhibited by the Pompidou Center, Paris.
The long term objectives of this research are to improve the outcome of elementary education, especially in government schools, with computer aided education in the class. As Inamdar puts it: “Research hopes to enhance the offerings and add value to both: the process and the pedagogy .”
Dr Mitra, who is now NIIT’s chief scientist emeritus and a professor of educational technology at the United Kingdom’s Newcastle University, aims to spread this model around the world to boost the learning and life skills of children, particularly those living in poverty and with few educational resources. Where conventional schools are absent or ineffective, the hole-in-the-wall web site says, the hands-off method could be a solution that uses the power of collaboration and the natural curiosity of children to catalyse learning.
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