Lecture 10: Challenging Sugata Mitra

Overview

In this lecture we will critically examine the thoughts and ideas of Sugata Mitra, one of the more controversial academics in the field of education and technology.  What does he think about the future role of technology in education?  Does this have any relevance to the introduction of technology into your new schools?  By the end of the lecture the class must prepare a big question that will challenge Sugata.

Lecture notes

In this lecture we listened to a recent BBC Radio 4 program called Glass Half Full which featured Sugata as an expert witness.  The proposition they were debating was Digital technology is making children’s lives richer.

The class have put forward the following question to challenge Sugata:

What can teachers provide that technology can’t?

Further reading, listening and watching

• Book chapter: Learning at Edge of Chaos by Sugata  Mitra, Suneeta Kulkarni and James Stanfield published in H. E. Lees, N. Noddings (Eds.), The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education (2016).
• Sugata Mitra TED Talk 1: Kids can teach themselves, Feb 2007
• Sugata Mitra TED Talk 2: The child driven education, July 2010
• Sugata Mitra TED Talk 2: Build a School in the Cloud, Feb 2013.
• Sugata’s five favourite education TED talks

SOLE Central is a university research centre set up to carry out research into self organising systems in education.  Further publications can be found here.