The website for Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall Project.
Traditional Computer Based Learning (CBL) methods typically rely on one-way transmission of information. These methods are seen as extensions of classroom learning and thus viewed by children as restrictive. Consequently, results from such CBL initiatives have, at best, been mixed. In Contrast, Hole-in-the-wall Learning Stations seek to create a new paradigm in the learning process by providing unrestricted computer access to groups of children in an open playground setting. We believe that such an open setting will use child’s natural curiosity to stimulate learning.
Collaborative Learning - The learning station fosters collaborative learning among groups of children instead of following the usual school model of rote based learning (unidirectional). This allows children to explore, learn, share and learn even more as a result of this exchange of knowledge. This ‘multiplier effect’ of collaborative learning is utilized fully by HiWEL learning stations.
Education, formal or informal, aims at imparting knowledge or skills. Formal educational settings are characterized by conventional and traditional institutionalized features, such as rigidity and fixed ways of planning, ordering and controlling, whereas, non-formal education refers to any organized educational activity outside the formal educational system.
The Minimally Invasive Education (MIE hereafter) occupies a distinctive and unique place in the educational learning system. MIE demonstrates a special case of the interplay of information technology (computers) and learning processes and emphasizes the role of self-directed and participatory learning. Establishing a new pedagogy, based upon continuous research, it indicates that it is adaptable and modifiable to both the formal and informal settings.
MIE, in the last few years has emerged as an educational method that is adaptable to demands of the situation and provides an alternative educational approach in contemporary times. It is likely to have far reaching results for developing nations, where achieving mass levels of literacy is of great concern.
2 comments ↓
Hi Jay, thanks so much for sharing this, I read about this project when I was working on an e-inclusion project in eGov last year but never followed it further, its great to see the website and how the children are learning.
PS the paper i originally saw it in was this
http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/seu/downloaddoc1890.pdf?id=790
It seems to me that the key to HiWEL is the notion of “self-organized groups” who learn on their own. If education is to become truly non-invasive, it must refrain from defining both the goals and the means to reach them, entrusting the groups with this task. If educational gurus notice that a group is neglecting what is considered “essential” in the curriculum (for whatever reason, whether it’s basic security, survival or simply an existing set of values), the group could be challenged to account for why they may be neglecting a certain topic or reminded of the interest in pursuing it. Respecting the self-organizing group and its decision-making capacity is the sine qua non of success. It also happens to be the absolute opposite of the organizational principles of traditional education and training.
It’s worth reflecting on how learners in self-organized groups use external resources to solve problems. One of Sugata’s anecdotes in Berlin concerned a girl who was overwhelmed by the exposure to the micro-biology courses in English (a language she had to learn as the medium of instruction). She stole some money from her mother to phone her uncle in Delhi, who she hoped might be able to explain in simple terms what DNA was. His vague and unscientific but nevertheless informative answer gave her the minimum she needed to begin constructing her understanding of the lessons she wanted to explore.
In other words, everything one already knows or has access to in the world becomes a potential resource for building rather than simply receiving knowledge (traditionally from a single authoritative source). This is probably the best answer to Andrew Keen as well because it demonstrates that even not fully reliable sources of knowledge (the uncle) can contribute to the construction and refinement of knowledge. Being exposed to a multiplicity of sources and entering into dialogue with them is the best way of evaluating the components of knowledge and understanding relationships between complementary elements.
I expect that within the family (in Indian culture) the mother could forgive her daughter for the theft. It’s worth noticing that in some cultures – and especially within educational institutions — that theft would not be forgiven and the child would be branded as a real or potential delinquent. It’s the old Jean Valjean problem that our western cultures are still struggling with, where the “rule of law” can easily become a rigid regime of “law and order”.
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