Fwd: [school-discuss] Self Organising Systems for mass education
Here's an interesting set of ideas that might go against some of my assumptions in regard to the OLPC project from MIT. However, I am not so sure about the results just yet. Begin forwarded message:
From: Knut Yrvin <knuty@skolelinux.no> Date: September 10, 2006 3:45:56 AM EDT To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net Subject: [school-discuss] Self Organising Systems for mass education Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
By Sugata Mitra, Dean of Research at The NIIT Institute and Chief Scientist at NIIT Limited
* An extract:
The “Hole in the wall” experiments
Groups of children can learn to use computers on their own, irrespective of who or where they are.
Groups of children, given access to shared, publicly accessible computers in playgrounds and other public areas, will teach themselves to use the technology on their own.
The original “hole in the wall”, January 1999, Kalkaji, New Delhi, India
We found this through a set of experiments conducted from 1999 onwards and often referred to as the “Hole-in-the-wall” experiments.
We found that children given unsupervised access to computers in public or play areas would become:
1. Computer literate – in their own way, with their own vocabulary, but highly effective nevertheless. 2. Better at math and English – I don’t know why, maybe because they learn to analyze and solve problems in groups. 3. More social and cooperative – because they learn that knowledge, unlike material objects, grows with sharing. 4. More interested in school – if the computer is near or in the school premises. 5. Less likely to drop out of school – because they want their computer. 6. Less interested in petty crime – mostly because all their free time is spent at the computer. 7. Generate local goodwill – parents like the idea that the child is learning something and not creating trouble at home.
It took us five years of rigorous measurements across the Indian subcontinent to verify these results amongst 40,000 of the world’s poorest children. Almost half of them, girls.
The data based outcomes showed:
* Acquisition of functional computer literacy * Improvement in academic performance * Increase in confidence and self-esteem * Increased collaborative behavior
Apart from data-based findings, there is consistent anecdotal evidence of large-scale impact on school enrollment, retention, concentration, attention span and problem-solving ability.
To keep computers working in, mostly, outdoor environments, we had to design several pieces of hardware and software. In five years a design emerged that is reliable and low on maintenance. The design is resistant to vandalism and undesirable adult access. Interestingly, both vandalism and adult access is automatically low in public places where children are present. We were also able to design software to remotely monitor all activity at these “playground” computers.
We found much more effective use of the computers already owned by schools—200 children can become computer literate using one playground computer—making it an effective and affordable method.
Without adult intervention or supervision, 40,000 village children experimented with computers and software to acquire an enduring understanding of the information age.
The news article:
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/5865
The scientific articles:
http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/Publications.html
Best regards
Knut Yrvin
jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.edu wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series
Such projects are always written up with a great deal of celebration. I have seen other reports of the hole in the wall project - and needless to say it looks interesting and wonderful when taken fully out of context. Of course the utility of computer literacy for a particular kind of global world (with it colonizing undertones) is unquestionable.Somewhat like "learning English" was in previous decades (still is) in the so-called "developing world".... but is just "computer access" the goal? what does it mean to be computer literate in specific contexts? What is context in this case? r
Here's an interesting set of ideas that might go against some of my assumptions in regard to the OLPC project from MIT. However, I am not so sure about the results just yet.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Knut Yrvin <knuty@skolelinux.no> Date: September 10, 2006 3:45:56 AM EDT To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net Subject: [school-discuss] Self Organising Systems for mass education Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
By Sugata Mitra, Dean of Research at The NIIT Institute and Chief Scientist at NIIT Limited
* An extract:
The "Hole in the wall" experiments
Groups of children can learn to use computers on their own, irrespective of who or where they are.
Groups of children, given access to shared, publicly accessible computers in playgrounds and other public areas, will teach themselves to use the technology on their own.
The original "hole in the wall", January 1999, Kalkaji, New Delhi, India
We found this through a set of experiments conducted from 1999 onwards and often referred to as the "Hole-in-the-wall" experiments.
We found that children given unsupervised access to computers in public or play areas would become:
1. Computer literate - in their own way, with their own vocabulary, but highly effective nevertheless. 2. Better at math and English - I don't know why, maybe because they learn to analyze and solve problems in groups. 3. More social and cooperative - because they learn that knowledge, unlike material objects, grows with sharing. 4. More interested in school - if the computer is near or in the school premises. 5. Less likely to drop out of school - because they want their computer. 6. Less interested in petty crime - mostly because all their free time is spent at the computer. 7. Generate local goodwill - parents like the idea that the child is learning something and not creating trouble at home.
It took us five years of rigorous measurements across the Indian subcontinent to verify these results amongst 40,000 of the world's poorest children. Almost half of them, girls.
The data based outcomes showed:
* Acquisition of functional computer literacy * Improvement in academic performance * Increase in confidence and self-esteem * Increased collaborative behavior
Apart from data-based findings, there is consistent anecdotal evidence of large-scale impact on school enrollment, retention, concentration, attention span and problem-solving ability.
To keep computers working in, mostly, outdoor environments, we had to design several pieces of hardware and software. In five years a design emerged that is reliable and low on maintenance. The design is resistant to vandalism and undesirable adult access. Interestingly, both vandalism and adult access is automatically low in public places where children are present. We were also able to design software to remotely monitor all activity at these "playground" computers.
We found much more effective use of the computers already owned by schools-200 children can become computer literate using one playground computer-making it an effective and affordable method.
Without adult intervention or supervision, 40,000 village children experimented with computers and software to acquire an enduring understanding of the information age.
The news article:
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/5865
The scientific articles:
http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/Publications.html
Best regards
Knut Yrvin
jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.edu wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Radhika Gajjala Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator School of Communication Studies 302 West Hall Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43402 http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik/index2.html For queries about BGSU's School of Communication Studies Grad program, email comsgrad@bgsu.edu For info on the Theory Research cluster at SCS - see http://scs.bgsu.edu/Research/ResearchClusters/theory.php
On Sep 10, 2006, at 9:45 AM, radhika gajjala wrote:
Such projects are always written up with a great deal of celebration.
Yes, i remain skeptical.
I have seen other reports of the hole in the wall project - and needless to say it looks interesting and wonderful when taken fully out of context.
Of course the utility of computer literacy for a particular kind of global world (with it colonizing undertones) is unquestionable.Somewhat like "learning English" was in previous decades (still is) in the so-called "developing world"....
yes, i wonder about 'whose computer literacy' we are talking about. given the way people related to OLPC suggested that the simputer for textually illiterate users was a bad approach. human capacities don't always need to map into western ideations.
but is just "computer access" the goal? what does it mean to be computer literate in specific contexts?
or computer literate at all, or informationally literate. we have quite a few people here with clear, and well written opinions on that. There was actually a pretty good prior post critiquing OLPC prior to this posting on the school-discuss list. I'm wondering if we aren't seeing, much like happened here in our last set of discussions, that the evidence from the hole in the wall project is being used more as a trope than as evidence in the battle for funding/etc. However, right now it is being discussed in the e-learning forum of unesco again http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forums.php has links ... jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.edu wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series
thanks Jeremy - I was on a unesco open-source something or other list for a while last year and then went away from my computer(s) to spaces where they claim there is a need for salvation throuhg computer literacy - will probably get back on and see what I missed. r
On Sep 10, 2006, at 9:45 AM, radhika gajjala wrote:
Such projects are always written up with a great deal of celebration.
Yes, i remain skeptical.
I have seen other reports of the hole in the wall project - and needless to say it looks interesting and wonderful when taken fully out of context.
Of course the utility of computer literacy for a particular kind of global world (with it colonizing undertones) is unquestionable.Somewhat like "learning English" was in previous decades (still is) in the so-called "developing world"....
yes, i wonder about 'whose computer literacy' we are talking about. given the way people related to OLPC suggested that the simputer for textually illiterate users was a bad approach. human capacities don't always need to map into western ideations.
but is just "computer access" the goal? what does it mean to be computer literate in specific contexts?
or computer literate at all, or informationally literate. we have quite a few people here with clear, and well written opinions on that.
There was actually a pretty good prior post critiquing OLPC prior to this posting on the school-discuss list. I'm wondering if we aren't seeing, much like happened here in our last set of discussions, that the evidence from the hole in the wall project is being used more as a trope than as evidence in the battle for funding/etc.
However, right now it is being discussed in the e-learning forum of unesco again http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forums.php has links ...
jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.edu wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Radhika Gajjala Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator School of Communication Studies 302 West Hall Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43402 http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik/index2.html For queries about BGSU's School of Communication Studies Grad program, email comsgrad@bgsu.edu For info on the Theory Research cluster at SCS - see http://scs.bgsu.edu/Research/ResearchClusters/theory.php
participants (2)
-
Jeremy Hunsinger -
radhika gajjala