Sugata Mitra - The School in the Cloud: The Emerging Future of Learning (Corwin Teaching Essentials)

Sugata Mitra is one of the most original voices in education today. His unique research with children and technology around the world casts a fascinating light on the core dynamics of learningand teaching. Children love to learn; they dont all do well in education. Why not? In school theyre usually obliged to compete with each other; what if they collaborate instead? Theyre typically taught by age; what happens when theyre not? What if theres no teacher at all? And what does all of this mean for the future of education in an increasingly connected and febrile world? A bold, provocative, and important book for anyone with a serious interest in learning, technology, and schools.

Sir Ken Robinson, PhD

Educator and New York Times Best-Selling Author

We universally underestimate children. Sugata Mitra does not. His lifes work has been to enable children to explore for themselves, using their innate curiosity and imagination. Education is what people do to you. Learning is what you do to yourself. Digital ether allows that latter, as you will see in this book.

Nicholas Negroponte

Founder, MIT Media Lab and One Laptop per Child

Sugata Mitras new book is arresting. It stops you in your tracks and causes you to think again. Many a good book will encourage and guide; and some will recommend better ways of doing things. This book does all of that and more. It also questions popular convention and provokes you into a new way of thinking about learning.

For example, think of the millions spent on providing enough computers for every student, or at least one device between two students; whereas Sugata Mitra shows that children will learn at greater rates if they cluster around large screens, in mixed-age groups, and discover together. Or, think of the ways in which ICT teaching carefully plans a step-by-step approach to ensure the right thing is studied at the right time, whereas Mitra shows children who are given free and public access to computers and the internet can become computer literate without the need for a planned curriculum. Perhaps most profound of all, Mitra describes the conditions leading to a self-organized learning environment (SOLE) in which, contrary to the usual situation in which students cram for a test and then forget much of what theyve learned once the test is done, the students in his experiments actually knew more when they were given a surprise test months later! As for the School in the Cloud idea, the underlying principle is to not teach; instead, have a conversation, raise questions, and ask children to work out possible answersbut do not teach!

On reading this book I suspect, like me, you will think the following quote will prove prophetic when considering Sugata Mitras contribution to education; I just hope that by reading and acting upon the messages herein, we can hasten toward that celebration: in the words of Nicholas Klein, First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.

James Nottingham, Founder and Author

The Learning Challenge

Challenging Learning

Alnmouth, UK

Sugata Mitras long-awaited book is not only a documentation of two decades of studies into self-organized learning, it is also an invitation to explore the mind of a disruptor. Mitra deftly traces the history of his projects, offering keen insights into the thinking behind his celebrated Hole-in-the-Wall and Schools-in-the-Cloud experiments. He provides a compelling, personal, and at times contentious narrative, replete with evidence that when given the right conditions, children really can learn for themselves. For educators everywhere, The School in the Cloud will be challenging and inspirational in equal measure.

Steve Wheeler

Learning Innovation Consultant

Former Associate Professor of Education

Plymouth Institute of Education

Sugata Mitra is the standard-bearer for a genuinely 21st century educationone that connects childrens innate thirst and capacity for learning with the massive resource of the internet, and then gets out of the way and lets them run free and grow their minds in the process. Read this book and let your sense of what is possible for children to do and become be expanded beyond your wildest dreams. And join Mitras crusading army of angelsfor his radical yet practical ideas are opposed by many who have done well by systematically underestimating childrens capabilities.

Guy Claxton

Author, The Learning Power Approach: Teaching Learners to Teach Themselves

The internet provides a seemingly endless resource beyond just consumption. Leveraging years of research, Sugata Mitra provides a compelling narrative on how the internet can empower kids to learn in ways we never imagined. The wisdom and strategies he shares serve as a blueprint to transform education now and in the future.

Eric Sheninger

Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership

International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE)

Many people profess to know what the future of school will be. These claims are often vague, overconfident, or overly simplistic. Not here. This book is filled with examples, questions, humility, possibilities, and undeniable stories that should make us all uncomfortable with our current ways of thinking about education. This is a must-read for all who want to expand their understanding about learning.

Julie Stern

Author, Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding

Twenty years ago, Sugata Mitra disrupted traditional education by installing a computer kiosk in an Indian slum and inviting children to learn togetherwithout teachers, textbooks, or tests. Lessons from that first Hole-in-the- Wall experiment have informed the global development of what Mitra calls self-organized learning environments (or SOLEs), where children investigate big questions by conducting online research. In The School in the Cloud, Mitra doesnt call for the end of schools or the elimination of teachers. Rather, he shows whats possible when educators embrace the SOLE model. With data and storytelling, he paints a picture of education thats sparked by curiosity, enabled by technology, and facilitated by teachers who are wise enough to let children drive their own learning.

Suzie Boss

Writer and Educational Consultant

Co-author, Thinking Through Project-Based Learning

Portland, OR

In The School in the Cloud, Sugata Mitra presents learning at its most elementala childs need to know combines with open access to information and gentle encouragement and her or his potential as a learner takes off. Readers familiar with high-quality project-based learning (PBL) will appreciate that Mitras work gets at the essence of this methodology. And, in its way, his book is the embodiment of the very processes Mitra recommends. In this book, we follow Mitra as he identifies an urgent concern (poor access to education), investigates and tries to address it, and through iteration and improvement, settles on a solution. Were lucky he shares it with others. With humor, humility, and insights borne from both successes and setbacks, Mitra shares lessons that, at their germ, show how student-centered, inquiry-driven learning can take shape, no matter the context.

Jane Krauss

Curriculum and Program Development Consultant

National Center for Women & Information Technology

Co-author, Thinking Through Project-Based Learning

Eugene, OR

For many years Sugata Mitra has been one of very few saying, and evidencing, that we should properly trust children with their learning. Children saw right away that they needed to know about the past to imagine and then build their futures. So of course they know how important it is to practice imagining. Children dont need this book; this book is for everyone else.