Journal Entry #3 - Motivation

My Reflection on the Discussion Topic : Motivation - “Schools As We Know Them Are Obsolete” (Mitra, S, 2012).


Objective Questions: Begin with Data, Facts, External Reality

     ‘Hole in the Wall’ was an experiment initiated by Sugata Mitra, a Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. His area of expertise has been minimally invasive education, with a special focus on the role of computers and social media. In 1999, Mitra decided to take his theory into the field (Mitra et al., 2005). His experiment, called SOLES: Self-Organized Learning, also known as the Minimally Invasive Education (MIE).

     Hole in the Wall experiment was initially implemented in the slums of New Delhi, and Kalkaji, the results confirmed Mitra’s hypothesis that learning happens regardless of the individual child’s background and that children were able to pick up basic computer skills with minimal guidance or supervision when provided with motivating content and suitable accessibility in spite of lacking English literacy. From the results of his research, Mitra also found that children were able to figure out how to surf the web, while learning to use web applications and play games. Mitra contends from his findings that “today’s educational systems are evolving and that schools are obsolete” (Matias, N.J., 2012).

Reflective: My initial feelings about Mitra’s work

  I should say my reaction to this section of our discussion forums was a mix of excitement and curiosity. Excitement because I felt that I could relate to some of Mitra’s finding. Curiosity was about finding out what other people felt about Mitra’s work. This was especially true in context towards the statement: ‘this is like anarchy: no teacher, no imposed structure. Thus, I started to ponder; does it really take a certain structure to create motivation for learning? At this point, I was not sure.

  Sugata Mitra’s TED talk: Experiments on Self-teaching was in fact a reflection of my own personal experience since I moved to Canada in 1999. When I first arrived and was thrown into ESL at the grade 11 level, I had absolutely no experience with English. At this point, I only knew Farsi, and aside from my parents, there was nobody I could seek for help. Thrown into the deep end I had no choice but to sink or swim. I dedicated myself to improving my English day and night. I would translate the newspaper; I would listen blankly at the television, hoping to catch anything that I had learned in school. Upon my graduation, I was proud to say that I was fluent in English. This was the part of me that identified strongly with Mitra’s research, I was given an opportunity and I reaped the rewards. However, now that I have had time to reflect, an important thought would be whether it was motivation created by survival instincts that led to my success or a natural curiosity created by opportunity. It is quite clear that it is likely to be the former.

  With this in mind, I was driven by curiosity to the feelings that other people had towards Mitra’s work. It certainly sounded like it was too good to be true. Still, it was surprising to find that Mitra continues to be a divisive figure in the field of education. When giving a plenary at an international teacher’s conference for IATEFL, half the crowd gave him a standing ovation, while many other stayed firmly planted in their seats with a scowl. The press lauded Mitra, but many educators in prestigious seats were quick pass criticism or to investigate Mitra’s work. What I found would go on to change my perspective on the matter rather quickly.

Interpretive Questions: Meaning, Values, Significance, and Implications

At first, I thought that the implications of Mitra’s work would be revolutionary. Thoughts of a generation of children who could teach themselves math, science, and languages certainly felt like aspects of a utopia. But like many things associated with perfection, reality is often quick to settle expectations. After conducting my own research, I started to think deeply on Mitra’s work. In some ways it was difficult to argue with his results. He had placed computers in some of the worst slums in the world and there the students were essentially able to teach themselves some rudimentary English and how to surf the web. Mitra said “Anarchy…No teacher, No Imposed Structure, Unbelievable What These Children Achieved,” but how incredible was it? Though it was certainly no small feat, would there be a future where everyone would learn with their friends with nothing more than the internet and YouTube? I started to grow skeptical at this prospect and was reminded of my youth playing the piano. Watching my mother playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as a child, I was quickly caught the musical bug. In a few minutes, I too played the song, and also Mary had a Little Lamb. I was pretty impressed with myself. However, by the time I was being forced to slog through lessons of Mozart and Chopin, any natural curiosity I had about the piano had been dragged out into the street, shot, and buried in a shallow grave. I would often lock myself in the bathroom to for hours to avoid practice and lessons.

The point of this anecdote is to relate myself to how I feel about Mitra’s work now. By placing computers in the middle of a slum, Mitra is providing underprivileged children with a novelty or toy. This essentially mirrors my initial curiosity with the piano. Put something new in front of children and they will definitely play with it. Still, before I am accused to being too anecdotal, Mitra also has certain results that mirror my final experiences in the musical field. When Mitra tried the same experiment in Italy, hoping to teach children about biology, the result was far less flattering than his New Dehli offerings. In a period of three months, the children learned enough English to just figure out that the diagram in front of them was capable of multiplying (Mitra, S., 2012). Needless to say, that would fly so low under the bar in most developed nations one might as well be laying down. It is clear that motivation created by curiosity does not hold up to academic rigour.

After doing some reading, it is clear that I am not the only person to come to this conclusion. Donald Clark, an entrepreneur and educational researcher, has criticized Mitra’s project: ‘Hole in the Wall’ and argues that free and self-organized learning ultimately results in free fall, vandalism and chaos since sustainability and maintenance of such systems installed is in fact a crucial task/responsibility. “The computers rarely worked, as the DSL line was often down, and when it did work, the larger boys dominated them, playing games” (Clark, D., 2013). Thus, Clark believes that replacing teachers with computers is not an ideal solution in order to fight the old curriculum styles and flaws of the traditional schooling anytime soon. In fact, in most cases, the hole in the wall in New Dehli only lasted three months, mirroring the amount of curiosity I had for piano (Clark, D., 2013).

Furthermore, he adds that when introducing such a system, the context in which it is introduced ought to also be taken into consideration and suggests that if Mitra introduced this into anywhere else other than rural parts of India, he would have received a different response. (Clark, D., 2013). Clark is absolutely correct given the fact that his train of thought matches the response of the hole in the wall project in Italy, where the students learned that a cell replicates in three months, something they could have done in Italian in mere seconds. It has become increasingly clear that curiosity may be a crucial part of a learning foundation, but it certainly is not the be all and end all of learning. It is certain that is not an educational messiah. In some ways, it leaves me sad to say that Mitra’s work may not have the world changing implications that he makes it seem, but I do believe that it is not without some merits.

Decisional Questions: Bringing Mitra’s Work To My field

        If anything, all the criticism against Mitra’s work has created some self-doubt, prompting the educational superstar to respond saying, “maybe all my work really is all rubbish” (Clark, D., 2013). It might be hard to tell if Mitra is being facetious or legitimately discouraged. Nonetheless, given my own personal experience, it is hard to dispute that there is something within Mitra’s work that is worth focusing on. Once again, going back to my childhood piano lessons, I wonder what my instructor could have done to cultivate my initial curiosity and motivation. Mitra has shown that it can be a powerful force, having children in slum teaching themselves rudimentary English and playing video games in English is actually quite an impressive feat. From my experience, too many teachers annihilate the joy of learning in school for many students long before the three month period. Should learning be rigorous? Yes. Should learning be hard? Yes. Should learning be competitive? Yes. But, learning should also be fun or no student would bother with all the aforementioned hardships. It is not enough to tell students that their future depends on their education. If someone told me I would not be rich unless I studied when I was six, my response would be “so what?” An appeal to childhood ethos is not enough to create motivation.

        It is not enough for teachers to simply sit around and inject knowledge into students. There has to be proactive methods into ensuring that children will continue to stay engaged long after their initial interest has run its course. Seeing that my expertise lays in childhood education, most of my techniques will be focused in that sector. When it comes to practical learning or hands on learning it can be more fun for students to build or to emulate. Why teach students math with just a blackboard and chalk? Create activities with blocks, toys, and games. Today, there are plenty educational games that can be accessed online. These should be implemented with greater frequency in the classroom. Hence, play based learning is growing trend in the field of childhood education.

      Learning stops being fun once it becomes frustrating instead of satisfying. Not everything can be achieved through fun, and sometimes it is important to slow down progression or to ensure that instruction is carried out in a myriad of different ways. In some ways, teaching can be equally frustrating instead of satisfying as well. Teachers should be flexible enough to decide when they should perhaps inject a bit of self-directed activities in order to see if students are able to come up with their own conclusions when didactic methods are failing.

          Perhaps, the most important thing is to not let children let go of their natural curiosity. As a child, I often remember asking my parents why and how on a regular basis. I did not know at the time, but it was a natural inclination to critical thinking. The educational system, at least when I was young, was based on obedience. As instructors, cultivating curiosity as motivation and learning tool is to never close oneself off to questions. Even a question that may sound stupid to adults could provide insight to learning for a young child. It is important not to dismiss and to encourage questions so that children never lose their desire to learn more and more. That is our duty as educators and what I believe is the most applicable part of Mitra’s work in practical learning in children.

 References: 

Barkley, E.F. (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College
        Faculty, Published by Jossey-Bass, P.11

Clark, D. (2013). Sugata Mitra: Slum Chic? Seven Reasons For Doubt, Retrieved
        From: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=mitra

Guerriero, M. (2014). Are College Campuses Obsolete? The New Yorker 

Matias, N.J. (2012). Is Education Obsolete? Sugata Mitra, At the MIT Media Lab,
        MIT Center For Media Lab, Retrieved From:
         https://civic.mit.edu/blog/natematias/is-education-obsolete-sugata-mitra-at-the-mit-media-lab

Mitra, S., Dangwal, R., Chatterjee, S., Jha, S., Bisht, R. S. & Kapur, P. (2005).
        Acquisition of computer literacy on shared public computers: children and the
        ‘Hole in the wall’. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21, 3, 407–
        426

Mitra, S. (2007). TED Talk: Kids Can Teach Themselves, Retrieved From:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves?language=en

Mitra, S. (2012).  India, South Africa, Cambodia, Gateshead… Wherever Sugata
        Mitra          

Works, He Provides Pupils With a Computer and Leaves them to it. And they
        Learn. Arches Features Magazine, The Newcastle University Alumni
        Association Magazine Issue 15/Summer 2012, P.15


Torgovnick May, K. (2013). TED Blog: A School in The Cloud. Retrieved From:
        http://blog.ted.com/a-school-in-the-cloud-sugata-mitra-accepts-the-ted-prize-
         at-ted2013/

Wagner, T. (2012). Creating Innovators: Why America's Education System
        Is Obsolete, Forbes Magazine, Retrieved From:
        http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2012/04/25/creating-innovators/