Using computers to teach children with no teachers | Hacker News Reader

Using computers to teach children with no teachers

bbc.co.uk

The researcher, Sugata Mitra, gave one of my favorite TED talks on this topic. Watch it here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_ki...

Video is from 2007. Since then he has built a website where you can get more info: http://hole-in-the-wall.com/

Excellent links. Here's a shortcut to Professor Mitra's publications on the topic since the BBC article is minimally informative about his research.

http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/Publications.html

I knew I'd heard about this on the radio, usually I listen to BBC Radio 4 so I think that this http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinking... half-hour programme is where I heard of it. Just in case someone is looking for an audio presentation.

The gist of it: children are curious and clever, and able to learn by exploring, particularly in the presence of other children. Presented with a novel and engaging device (an internet connected computer), a test group was able to acquire the knowledge necessary to make use of it. Extending this idea, classrooms that mimic this interaction may prove an effective way of integrating educational technology into the classroom. Technology will then raise the quality of education in areas where the quality or availability of teachers is poor.

I spent two years in Cambodia working on an American-funded educational technology project. I think many well-intentioned technology projects (like OLPC), find the real world has sharp edges. Implementation woes are many in poor countries with poor infrastructure. In particular:

- Electricity is extremely expensive in rural areas. In many cases, you're talking about operating a generator fed with expensive gasoline. A generator is a prime target for theft. As is the gasoline, wires and generated electricity (which can be sold to neighbors). Most donations are for the initial installation and a year or so of operation. Money for ongoing operation may not be available. In our case, it wasn't, which meant operational electronics lying dormant.

- Wires and electronics must be locked up and guarded. This means metal doors and windows, padlocks, and a night guard.

- General purpose computers with a CD drive can play music VCDs and games, which children find more fun than typing programs and courseware. Children in foreign countries are not so different from children in the developed world. There's excitement about technology, but things tend to follow a path of least resistance if there is a lack of direction.

- Internet-connectivity in a remote region means a two-way satellite, networking equipment, and trained personnel capable of installing and troubleshooting inevitable issues. Again, theft and misuse are issues. And the payoff is hard to measure.

- In Cambodia, a college-educated teacher may get paid around $40/month. In the past, the government often had difficulty making those payments. If I had a family, and were trying to support them on a little more than a dollar a day, I might have a motivation problem as well. To float themselves, many teachers charge for test answers, handouts and additional lessons. Spending relatively large sums of money to solve the problem with tech seems like a short-sighted bandaid atop a much larger systemic problem.

To be clear: I think technology has a place in education, and improved education is the most effective way to lift up the struggling poor. But many of these ideas veer off-course with flights of fancy, like a pricey vSat-powered "granny cloud" video chat systems vs. utilizing existing teachers or paying local grandmothers a very small amount to provide encouragement in the actual classroom. The lack of pragmatism is what bothers me, I guess.

How this would work in Europe is another question entirely.

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