Additional Assignment #2

Sugata Mitra, an educational specialist shows a little of his research on how kids teach themselves at a fairly recent TED Talk.  One of his projects he entitled "A Hole in the Wall".  I thought it was fascinating to see how kids who have never seen a computer before were able to use it to teach each other within a matter of hours or days.    I think the kids in Dr. Mitra's projects live in worlds with little to no opportunities.  The sudden appearance of a computer is probably an answer to many prayers.  They seem so eager for the chance to learn something.  This example was one of exceptionally motivated learners, and yes I do think they can teach themselves, even though they are kids.  Under what conditions though?  Well I think they have to have some incentive or inherent desire to learn.  From the video we saw that some things were not important, like a classroom for example.  However tools to learn were provided, i.e. the Internet.  I would think the Internet would be essential for self-directed learning.  Give a motivated student the Internet and a problem to solve, and they will no doubt be able to do it.  I think giving students guideline directives or sets of problems would be a great way to drive the learning and exploration in a planned but not structured way.  This is wonderful for those students that are motivated, but what about the others?  We all know that some students will insist they are not interested in learning anything and will not extend any effort.  I loved his mention of the "granny method" of teaching.  Who encourages you better than your grandmother?  Encouraging a child to succeed would be the best way to try to motivate them in my opinion.  I think we should all try to take the granny approach in our classes when appropriate. 

I have found that over the past few years it seems that being a self-directed learner is almost a necessity.  From online college courses to staying current in a job field, both require one to learn without direct guidance at all times.  However, as we have discussed in previous posts, I do not think the role of the teacher is fading.  I feel the teacher now needs to adapt to a new style of teaching, where there is less structure and more freedom to the student.  I would be curious to see how students who already have unlimited access to technology would respond to Dr. Mitra's tests.  Would they be so over stimulated from being able to find out anything they want already?  I think it would be an enormous challenge to get this type of student to teach themselves biochemistry in a foreign language.  But, like some of the comments after the video stated we really don't know how they would respond because they don't usually have that freedom.  I wonder what the principal would say when he heard you gave your class an assignment and then just left!