Sugata Mitra’s School in the Cloud is a reality.
Sarah Schoengold, guest blogger on TED Blog posted an article in early December about Sugata Mitra. Sugata Mitra, known for his TED wish prize winning idea: School in the Cloud, believes in a new kind of education that pairs technology and the multitude of resources available via the internet, with children’s innate sense of curiosity.
SOLE, the acronym found on the doors of the first School in the Cloud learning lab, stands for “Self- Organized Learning Environment”. In these one room learning labs students engage in inquiry-based learning and investigate questions they want to answer. As they work through challenging problems with their peers, using technology and the internet to out source information to help them solve problems, they are encouraged by a volunteer member of the “Granny Cloud” who Skypes in to help guide them through these collaborative processes.
Sugata Mitra’s recipe for future learning is one where children around the world tap into their wonder and their ability to work together. The key ingredient? Encouragement. It’s not about making learning happen, but watching learning happen. Is this not our 21st century vision for education as well?
After watching Sugata’s Mitra’s TEDTalk, Build a School in the Cloud, I am feeling even more inspired to continue my work with the Digital Human Library. As our education system continues to evolve, focusing more on the meaningful integration of technology into our classroom programs, so must our teaching. Access to technology, the internet, and resources like the Digital Human Library provides our students with the tools they need to work collaboratively and answer questions to solve problems. For now I would like to keep my place in the classroom as the “Granny” in residence so to speak. But who knows, maybe my future is in the cloud?
Leigh Cassell
Elementary Teacher, AMDSB
Founder of the Digital Human Library
Here is the link to the full article, The first School in the Cloud opens in the UK. Definitely worth a read!
This post is also available in: Français (French)
