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The School in the Cloud
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The School in the Cloud
The Emerging Future of Learning

Foreword by John Hattie, Foreword by Class 3G, Belleville Primary School

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September 2019 | 224 pages | Corwin

The Science and the Story of the Future of Learning 
Educators have been trying to harness the “promise” of technology in education for decades, to no avail, but we have learned that children in groups—when given access to the Internet—can learn anything by themselves. In this groundbreaking book, you’ll glimpse the emerging future of learning with technology. It turns out the promise isn’t in the technology itself; it’s in the self-directed learning of the children who use it. 

In 1999, Sugata Mitra conducted the famous "Hole in the Wall" experiment that inspired three TED Talks and earned him the first million-dollar TED prize for research in 2013. Since then, he has conducted new research around self-organized learning environments (SOLE), building "Schools in the Cloud" all over the world. This new book shares the results of this research and offers
• Examples of thriving Schools in the Cloud in unlikely places
• Mitra’s predictions on the future of learning
• How to design assessments for self-organizing learning
• How to build your own School in the Cloud
• Clips from the documentary, The School in the Cloud

Discover the future of learning by digging deep into Mitra’s thought-provoking experiences, examples, and vision.


 
List of Figures
 
List of Companion Website Resources
 
Foreword John Hattie, Class 3G, Belleville Primary School
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Prelude: A Matter of Imagination
 
The School in the Cloud: A Chronology
 
PART I: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHILDREN MEET THE INTERNET?
 
Chapter 1: Self-Organizing Systems in Learning
1999—The Hole in the Wall

 
Can Children Learn With Technology?

 
2007—The Gateshead Experiments

 
2009—The Granny Cloud

 
Admiration as Pedagogy: The Kalikuppam Experiment

 
Skype Grannies

 
The Hyderabad Project, 2007–2009

 
The Atlas Learning Centre (ALC) in Gosavi Vasti, India, 2012

 
2010—When the Rubber Hits the Road: Implementation Around the World

 
 
Chapter 2: Schools in the Cloud
TED: An Idea (I Hope Was) Worth Spreading

 
The Schools in the Cloud

 
 
PART II: SCHOOLS IN THE CLOUD
 
Chapter 3: Area Zero: Gocharan, the Baruipur Municipality, Bengal, India
Learning and Some Huge Challenges

 
Results

 
 
Chapter 4: Area 1: Korakati, the Sundarbans, Bengal, India
Results

 
 
Chapter 5: Area 2: Chandrakona, West Midnapore, Bengal, India
Learning and Some Challenges

 
 
Chapter 6: Area 3: Kalkaji, New Delhi, India
The Early SOLE at GGSSS/GBSSS

 
Learning

 
Results

 
 
Chapter 7: Area 4: Phaltan, District Satara, Maharashtra, India
Making Sense of the Data From Phaltan

 
What the Phaltan Data Said

 
 
Chapter 8: Area 5: Killingworth, North Tyneside, England
 
Chapter 9: Area 6: Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, England
 
Chapter 10: How to Build Your Own School in the Cloud
Why Would You Want to Build a School in the Cloud?

 
Will the Internet Ever be Allowed During Examinations?

 
Space

 
Furniture

 
Computing Equipment

 
Power, Internet, and Climate Control

 
The Dasghara Model

 
Using the School in the Cloud

 
Creating and Posing Big Questions

 
When SOLEs Go Wrong

 
 
PART III: GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE OF LEARNING
 
Chapter 11: What Did We Learn From the Schools in the Cloud?
How Much Can We Rely on the Research?

 
What Did We Learn From the Schools in the Cloud?

 
 
Chapter 12: Is No Pedagogy Good Pedagogy? Minimally Invasive Education
Education

 
Education and Cognition

 
Using the Past

 
Assessment

 
A Different Type of Exam

 
Curriculum

 
 
Chapter 13: Where Are the Schools in the Cloud Now?
An Uncertain Future

 
What Is Happening With the Schools in the Cloud?

 
Schools in the Cloud Spreading Around the World

 
 
Chapter 14: Projection, Prediction, Prophecy, and Phantasy
Looking for the Future

 
Projection

 
Prediction

 
Prophecy

 
Phantasy

 
Spontaneous Order

 
 
Epilogue
 
Documentary Discussion Guide
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

“This isn’t another book about boring old teachers.”

From the 3rd-year class of Belleville Primary School

Sugata Mitra’s 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 one student, or at least one device between two students; whereas Sugata 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-Organised Learning Environment (SOLE) in which, contrary to the usual situation in which students cram for a test and then forget much of what they’ve 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 answers—but do not teach!

On reading this book I suspect, like me, you will think the quote will prove prophetic when considering Sugata Mitra’s contribution to education; I just hope that by reading and acting upon the messages herein, we can hasten towards that celebration: “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.” (Attributed to Nicholas Klein, pp 34)

James Nottingham, Founder and Author, The Learning Challenge
Challenging Learning, Alnmouth, UK

Sugata Mitra’s long awaited book is not only a documentation of two decades of studies into self-organised 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

We universally underestimate children. Sugata does not. His life’s 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 of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop per Child

Twenty years ago, Sugata Mitra disrupted traditional education by installing a computer kiosk in an Indian slum and inviting children to learn together—without 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 doesn’t call for the end of schools or the elimination of teachers. Rather, he shows what’s possible when educators embrace the SOLE model. With data and storytelling, he paints a picture of education that’s sparked by curiosity, enabled by technology, and facilitated by teachers who are wise enough to let children drive their own learning.

 

Suzie Boss, Author and Consultant, Thinking Through Project-Based Learning

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 of Tools for Teaching Conceptual Learning

In The School in the Cloud, Sugata Mitra presents learning at its most elemental — a child’s need to know combines with open access to information and gentle encouragement and her potential as a learner takes off. 

Readers familiar with high-quality project-based learning (PBL) will appreciate that Mitra’s work gets at the essence of this methodology. And, in its way, his book is the embodiment of the very processes Mitra recommends. In The School in the Cloud we follow Mitra as he identifies an urgent concern (poor access to education), investigates and tries to address it (through internet and “granny” encouragement), and through iteration and improvement, settles on a solution (self-organizing learning environments) we’re lucky he shares 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, Author, Thinking Through Project-Based Learning

For many years Sugatra 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 don’t need this book; this book is for everyone else.

Stephen Heppell, Felipe Segovia Chair in Learning Innovation at Universidad Camilo José Cela
Madrid, Spain

Sugata Mitra is the standard-bearer for a genuinely 21st century education: one that connects children’s 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 it is possible for children to do, and become, be expanded beyond your wildest dreams. And join Sugata’s crusading army of angels – for his radical yet practical ideas are opposed by many who have done well by systematically underestimating children’s capabilities.

Guy Claxton

The Internet provides a seemingly endless resource beyond just consumption. Leveraging years of research Sugata Mitra provides a compelling narrative on how it 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
International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE)
Key features
The book will share:
  • Examples of thriving Schools in the Cloud in unlikely places
  • Mitra's predictions on the Future of Learning
  • How to design assessments for self-organized learning
  • How to build your own School in the Cloud

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