Sugata Mitra

I mentioned earlier that finding Sugata Mitra has probably been the most inspiring thing for me in this class. He is, a man who's idea has infected my brain, and has set something in place that I continue to go back to, and relate everything in class to his ideas. I was lucky enough to find him at the beginning of the term, and have watching his speech above, which delves further into his research. And, I'll be the first to say, I was flabbergasted and amazed by the level of capability that the children showed in his study.

Ever since then, I've been thinking about this. Thinking about how we can harness what children naturally possess. How can we help them to become so self motivated. What kinds of wonders can we create in the human mind with the introduction of technology? Can we use this to get knowledge to children everywhere?

I think that if I was going to take one thing away from this class, it would be a great respect for this man and the study he is doing. And a further desire to search things out to try to enlighten myself with the wonderful work that people are doing in the world. TED is a fantastic site, and I wish I could spend a year simply educating myself on the things that people have been able to learn and share with the world. I truly am motivated, and inspired by this, and it is just one of thousands of talks that exist by men and women just as innovative as Sugata Mitra.

I started to think, about what I could use from this mans lecture, and how I could transport it into a regular classroom. I really like the idea of creating 'pods' or at least arranging a seating plan like that. Especially when he does his experiment in the school in Italy, it made me think about cooperative learning, and what the effects would be if children were able to share one computer through four, and if they could walk over and examine other peoples work. Because, isn't that a much more real world situation? We are not individual in our learning in real life, and there's always google to look to if we get stuck. Important discoveries are not made with out inspiration of the ideas of others. Could that really be used as a regular feature of a classroom?

Sugata Mitra's learner driven education is a program that I think could really help communities where teachers are not as available, but it also exists in a world of more technology, and the ability to access it. Situations like this would be great for schools in Nunavut, where there is very little outside interest in going to teach. It could even work in a regular classroom, and could be used as a great way to get the community involved by having volunteers able to come in to the school and ask the children questions, to comment on their progress. It's a world of teaching I wish was available to more people, it reminds me almost of a Vulcun school system as seen in the recent Star Trek movie. Maybe it is the future.