Sugata Mitra - Build a School in the Cloud

In the digital age, education is rapidly changing. In many places, textbooks and chalkboards are outdated and replaced by laptops and smartboards. Learners are able to access information on the internet in seconds. As educators, we know this, but how skilled are we at educating students with these tools. Are teachers resisting technology (no cell phones in class at all, laptops away, handwritten assignments and exams)? Are we teaching students to examine the internet with a critical lens? Are educators assuming too much power and not allowing students to, as Sugata Mitra would say, “self organize”. Is or will knowing be obsolete with the access to internet at our fingertips? I think these are big questions teachers need to reflect on.

How does Build a School in the Cloud make me think of my role with young people in an online environment? My first thought is that as a teacher I talk and model “learning and assignment expectations” too much. I am constantly assuming that students need tasks and learning to be thoroughly explained. What if I can minimize this teaching practice and allow the students to work together to figure it out on their own. What if all they need are a few meaningful questions to explore topics and learn together. What if I am spending the time to model how I want them to do it, not always how THEY want to present, write, share, and express their learning. I don’t have the answers, not yet, to these thoughts. I am convinced that learning is outdated and whatever works best for students almost always works best for me. So this coming September, whether brick and mortar or distance learning, I plan to experiment with the approach of Mitra - provide big questions, and step back and watch the kids go to work.

One point that Mitra raises that I can back by experience is the “method of the grandmother.” Students respond to encouragement and love. Saluting a learner’s progress promotes more learning, engagement, and pleasure. No matter how I continue to make adjustments to my teaching and continue to experiment with teaching practices, one thing I will never abandon is the meaningful praise and appreciation I express to my students.