Self Organised Learning Environment

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A Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) is a program designed to support self-directed education. Sugata Mitra, an education scientist, first popularized the term in 1999, referencing an approach he developed following his Hole in the Wall experiments. [1] [2] Mitra's experiments demonstrated that groups of kids could learn to navigate computers and the internet by themselves, and "research since then has continued to support his startling conclusion that groups of children, with access to the Internet, can learn almost anything by themselves." [3] Starting in 2014, he's worked with and through the School in the Cloud project to support the development of SOLEs around the world, adding "Granny" mentors and Big Questions as key components of such programs.

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Mitra has also served as the inspiration for StartSOLE.org, a platform used by classroom educators to drive inquiry-based learning.

In 2022, Mitra was recognized with the Brock Prize in Education Innovation for his transformational work in rethinking the way children learn.

Initial experiments and Project SOLE

One of the things that was learned through the program is that children are often smarter than given credit for. Rather than providing lectures or spoon-feeding information to the students, it is better to ask "engaging, provocative questions" and let them work out the answers. It was also determined to be good to let the students self-direct in the areas that are of interest to them, with the idea that students will then often stretch to comprehend information that might have otherwise been too difficult for them. [4]

Other findings were that the educational experience is enhanced through collaboration and teamwork, that speech-to-text software is an effective tool for learning to speak a new language, and that tests asking students to solve real-life problems are more effective at prompting students to apply and demonstrate their learning than standard tests. [4]

The first student in India to use the program was Gouri Chindarkar (born about 1996) from Sangli in Maharashtra. [5] [6] She learned about the program through a mentor, an American woman named Ann Thomas, who met with her at 6:30 in the morning. She used a computer for the first time, and her schoolwork delivered in English; her native language is Marathi. [7] Gouri Chindarkar has since studied Computing Engineering at the Kankavali campus of Mumbai University and she was selected as one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2016. [7]

Project SOLE was begun in 10 locations in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, with an 11th one in Sindhudurg rural area of Maharashtra over a period of 2 years, 2008 to 2009. It is not clear to what extent the learning is effective over the long-term. [4]

The School In The Cloud

In their own words, "The School in the Cloud platform was originally launched at the 2014 TED conference to help accelerate this research by helping educators — be they teachers, parents or community leaders — to run their own SOLEs and to contribute to the global experiment by sharing their experiences with others. It is now managed by SOLE Central at Newcastle University, a global hub for SOLE research and practice directed by Sugata Mitra." [8] They are currently experimenting to refine and increase access to education programs that blend the SOLE approach of encouraging student groups to self-direct online learning with lessons from the Philosophy For Children (P4C) project. [9]

StartSOLE.org

With inspiration from Sugata Mitra and support from the David and Barbara Jacobs Foundation, education entrepreneur Jeffrey McClellan launched StartSOLE in 2017 as a way for any educator to drive student-centered, inquiry-based learning into their classrooms. As of 2022, more than 35,000 educators from over 110 different countries were part of the StartSOLE community using the platform to find and share big questions, create lesson plans and empower over 2.4 Million students to develop confidence in their own abilities to solve problems, find information, work in teams and still master curricular content. StartSOLE is subject agnostic and can be used to fuel learning for any subject. In 2020, Pennsylvania adopted StartSOLE as its way to allow any educator in the state to drive inquiry-based learning.

Adaptation within institutionalized education

Though Mitra's initial experiments focused on children living in unstable environments and in poverty, his findings inspired educators in a wide variety of environments to adapt his work. Teachers in both traditional and progressive environments have found ways to incorporate the SOLE approach in their work, whether for the span of a lesson or a semester. One prominent education blog suggests, "Consider it a tool for introducing and generating interest in a new topic, as well as broadening your students’ understanding of a familiar topic." [10] In this context, the SOLE is just one element in a larger inquiry or project-based learning cycle.

Adaptation beyond institutionalized education

For some, the initial SOLE projects showed the immense potential for learning in settings where students leverage technology and social learning to explore their interests with minimal interference. The US nonprofit Black Mountain SOLE opened a community center "inspired by the idea that human curiosity is the best motivation for learning" and identifying as an adaptation from earlier SOLE projects. [11] Agile Learning Centers and a number of the projects that are part of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education also consider themselves to either be or be inspired by SOLEs. [12]

Related Research Articles

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Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process, some social science, and some teaching pedagogy. The standards for science education provide expectations for the development of understanding for students through the entire course of their K-12 education and beyond. The traditional subjects included in the standards are physical, life, earth, space, and human sciences.

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montessori education</span> Teaching method encouraging autodidacticism

The Montessori method of education is a type of educational method that involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes independence and it views children as naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a sufficiently supportive and well-prepared learning environment. It discourages some conventional measures of achievement, such as grades and tests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early childhood education</span> The teaching of children from birth to age eight

Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is up to the equivalent of third grade. ECE is described as an important period in child development.

The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. This approach is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments. The programme is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community through exploration, discovery and play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Experiential learning</span> Learn by reflect on active involvement

Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not synonymous with, other forms of active learning such as action learning, adventure learning, free-choice learning, cooperative learning, service-learning, and situated learning.

Minimally invasive education (MIE) is a form of learning in which children operate in unsupervised environments. The methodology arose from an experiment done by Sugata Mitra while at NIIT in 1999, often called The Hole in the Wall, which has since gone on to become a significant project with the formation of Hole in the Wall Education Limited (HiWEL), a cooperative effort between NIIT and the International Finance Corporation, employed in some 300 'learning stations', covering some 300,000 children in India and several African countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classroom</span> Room desired for learning, usually in a bigger building

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-based learning</span> Learner centric pedagogy

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Editing technology is the use of technology tools in general content areas in education in order to allow students to apply computer and technology skills to learning and problem-solving. Generally speaking, the curriculum drives the use of technology and not vice versa. Technology integration is defined as the use of technology to enhance and support the educational environment. Technology integration in the classroom can also support classroom instruction by creating opportunities for students to complete assignments on the computer rather than with normal pencil and paper. In a larger sense, technology integration can also refer to the use of an integration platform and application programming interface (API) in the management of a school, to integrate disparate SaaS applications, databases, and programs used by an educational institution so that their data can be shared in real-time across all systems on campus, thus supporting students' education by improving data quality and access for faculty and staff.

"Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting... Effective technology integration is achieved when students can select technology tools to help them obtain information on time, analyze and synthesize it, and present it professionally to an authentic audience. Technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions—as accessible as all other classroom tools. The focus in each lesson or unit is the curriculum outcome, not the technology."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Student voice</span> Perspectives and actions of students

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classroom management</span> Aspect of educational work

Classroom management is the process teachers use to ensure that classroom lessons run smoothly without disruptive behavior from students compromising the delivery of instruction. It includes the prevention of disruptive behavior preemptively, as well as effectively responding to it after it happens. Such disruptions may range from normal peer conflict to more severe disturbances of the social class dynamics, such as bullying among students, which make it impossible for the affected students to concentrate on their schoolwork and result in a significant deterioration of their school performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inclusion (education)</span> Where disabled students spend most of their time with non-disabled students

Inclusion in education refers to all students being able to access and gain equal opportunities to education and learning. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have the said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life. The philosophy behind the implementation of the inclusion model does not prioritize, but still provides for the utilization of special classrooms and special schools for the education of students with disabilities. Inclusive education models are brought into force by educational administrators with the intention of moving away from seclusion models of special education to the fullest extent practical, the idea being that it is to the social benefit of general education students and special education students alike, with the more able students serving as peer models and those less able serving as motivation for general education students to learn empathy.

Dennis O. Harper is an American educator and the founder of Generation YES, a nonprofit technology education organization founded in 1999. He is an active advocate for the transformative power of technology in education and for student leadership as change agents in schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugata Mitra</span>

Sugata Mitra is an Indian computer scientist and educational theorist. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. He is Professor Emeritus at NIIT University, Rajasthan, India. A Ph.D. in theoretical physics, he retired in 2019 as Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University in England, after 13 years there including a year in 2012 as visiting professor at MIT MediaLab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He won the TED Prize 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MicroSociety</span>

MicroSociety, Inc is a non-profit organization located in Old City, Philadelphia that has been preparing children to compete in the global economy for more than 20 years and is operating in over 300 schools across the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elementary schools in the United States</span> Primary education in the United States

In the United States, elementary schools are the main point of delivery of primary education, for children between the ages of 4–11 and coming between pre-kindergarten and secondary education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Learning space</span> Physical setting for a learning environment

Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical setting for a learning environment, a place in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to "classroom," but it may also refer to an indoor or outdoor location, either actual or virtual. Learning spaces are highly diverse in use, configuration, location, and educational institution. They support a variety of pedagogies, including quiet study, passive or active learning, kinesthetic or physical learning, vocational learning, experiential learning, and others. As the design of a learning space impacts the learning process, it is deemed important to design a learning space with the learning process in mind.

References

  1. ↑ "Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education". TEDGlobal 2010. July 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education (transcript)". TEDGlobal 2010. July 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ "About | School in the Cloud". www.theschoolinthecloud.org. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  4. 1 2 3 Michał Paradowski (July–August 2014). "Classrooms in the clouds or castles in the air". Voices. No. 239. International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL). pp. 8–10 – via academia.edu.
  5. ↑ "Sunny Leone, Neha Singh on BBC's 100 most influential women list - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  6. ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2016 List: Sunny Leone and 4 Indian women in inspirational and influential list". India News Bulletin. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. 1 2 "100 Women 2016: The girl who learnt in the cloud". BBC News. 2016-11-22. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  8. ↑ "About | School in the Cloud". www.theschoolinthecloud.org. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  9. ↑ "A philosophical approach to SOLE | School in the Cloud". www.theschoolinthecloud.org. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  10. ↑ "Getting Started With Self-Organized Learning Environments | Edutopia". Edutopia. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  11. ↑ "About Us - Blackmountainsole". Blackmountainsole. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  12. ↑ "Alliance for Self-Directed Education | Home Page". Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Retrieved 2018-10-09.

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