Hole in the Wall
(REPOSTED by KT) “The Hole in the Wall”- (HiWel) - A way to spread computer literacy
1. When was your technology/ media tool invented?
The Hole-In-the Wall was established in 1999 by Sugata Mitra, and since its launch has expanded from a single computer at Kalkaji, New Delhi to more than a hundred computers at various locations across India.
2. When was it first used in education (how?)?
As per my research, it was first used in1999 to experiment in children’s learning. A computer was placed in a kiosk in a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi, in an open area where children were allowed to use it without any direct supervision.
The aim of this experiment was to prove how learning could be done in another way other than being in a classroom. In this case, the Hole-in-the-Wall helped break traditional confines of how schooling should look like by placing the learning in the child’s hands outdoors. This experiment also aimed to prove that children didn’t need to be put in a conventional classroom to “learn” and could be taught by computers without any formal training. It didn’t matter what the child’s formal or past education, learning through the use of computers could be accomplished anywhere. Due to it’s success, this experiment was repeated and also carried out in Cambodia.
“In India, I found two illiterate people texting each other. They had invented a language for themselves which you and I would not understand. I wonder: are there such things as illiterates at all? Yes, if we give them an examination on grammar, but maybe we’ve got the definition wrong and there’s a new literacy that we’re unaware of” – The Guardian.
It’s quite neat that this technology is able to be used by all people (rich or poor). No barriers.
3. How did it (re) shape education or transform or transform literacy, learning, or social orders (changing roles, authority & power-relations, exclusions & inclusion, ideology)?
"The constructivism theory discusses 'cognitive growth and learning' and how children actively construct their knowledge rather than simply absorbing ideas spoken at them by teachers” (Mitra, 2000, p.4). This technology has definitely re-shaped education and transformed learning in the sense that it has allowed students conduct and take lead of their own learning without being placed in a conventional classroom. It has also allowed students from all socio-economic backgrounds to have access to these technologies that are placed there to help them learn. In a sense these technologies are transforming these communities for the positive by providing educational access to all. The- Hole-in-the-wall- technology does not discriminate because it is accessible to all. This technology definitely has a progressive approach where the child is in control of their own learning. Mitra’s basic theory of learning lies in the child simply needing two things to learn effectively: 1) access to a computer with internet, and 2) need to be in the absence of a teacher (Thompson, 2017).
"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." - Anatole France
Resources:
Wikipedia
de Castell, S., & Luke, A. (1986). Defining literacy in North American schools: Social and historical conditions and consequences. In S.C. de Castell, A. Luke, & K. Egan (Eds.), Literacy, society and schooling (pp. 87-109). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.*
Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2009). ‘Multiliteracies’: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 4(3), 164-195.
Thompson, K. (2017, October 15). Sugata Mitra's Hole in the Wall Experiment. Retrieved from https://revisesociology.com/2017/10/14/sugata-mitras-hole-in-the-wall-experiment/
in-the-Wall - Publications. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/Publications.html
Don Passey, Digital Skills for Those in Transition – Where Next, Key Competencies in ICT and Informatics. Implications and Issues for Educational Professionals and Management, 10.1007/978-3-662-45770-2_19, (219-230), (2014).
