Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

Jennifer Alfonso-Punzalan

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

ET

IL

TED Conferences, LLC.  [TED2013]. (2013, February). Sugata Mitra: Build a school in the cloud [Video file].  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2013-02-27

Sugata Mitra is an educational researcher who spoke at a TED conference about how his goal is to build a school in the cloud.  His notion is that the educational system that was invented during the Victorian times worked for that era, but now, education needs to be reworked.  His thoughts are that children can teach themselves and their peers anything, as long as they’re interested and have the hardware and software to do so.  His research with children in poor neighborhoods in India showed that children who had access to an Internet-connected computer learned very complex ideas, not even in their native language but in English.  This so-called “Hole in the Wall” computer gave these children the ability to learn abstract science concepts.  Because they had the curiosity, the tools, and one another, the Hole in the Wall project resulted in learning on individual and collaborative scales.

This was an eye-opening TED talk on the great effects that technology can have on learning.  I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Mitra on how the current educational system in the United States is old-fashioned and needs a revolutionary change.  It would be great if all schools could differentiate learning for all their students through the use of cloud-based technologies and schools so that every child really wouldn’t be left behind.  If people would be willing to vote for and fund this type of education then I think a school in the cloud could really happen.