Education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education — the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.
About Sugata Mitra
Sugata Mitra's “Hole in the Wall” experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they're motivated by curiosity… Full bio and more links
Phi Beta Iota: Harrison Owen recommended this. He has spent his life nurturing self-organizing systems. This is one of the most moving, impactful ideas and presentations we have seen in our lifetime. This is one of the keys.
There are differences between “learning” and “education,” but hopefully more people can be inspired to blur the two further than we currently see happening.
Video talks Sir Ken Robinson: school kills creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.
Jesse Schell: Visions of the Gamepocalypse (entertaining and fascinating)
Jesse Schell explores the social, cognitive, and technological trends in computer game design and use.
September 21, 2010, NEW YORK CITY — Omidyar Network today announced it will dedicate $55 million to fund technology investments that provide people around the world with information, tools and services that improve their quality of life. The philanthropic investment firm pledged $30 million to progress government transparency and $25 million in support of mobile innovation benefitting people in emerging markets. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in New York City.
“We are at the cusp of understanding technology’s potential for creating positive change in the world,” said Matt Bannick, managing partner, Omidyar Network. “Through these commitments, Omidyar Network will support technologies that provide citizens with information and insight about their government, and fund mobile platforms that reach new markets with life-changing services.”
Each of Omidyar Network’s CGI commitments will be fulfilled over the next three years, and include both for-profit investments and nonprofit grants.
Technology for Transparency: Omidyar Network will invest $30 million to advance government transparency both domestically and abroad. To fulfill the commitment, Omidyar Network will identify and support organizations that use technology to provide access to information and tools necessary for citizens to participate in the governing process and shape outcomes important to them. This effort was created on the belief that open access to information and transparent systems increase the public's knowledge of government activities, leading to a more informed and engaged society that can hold its officials accountable. This new commitment expands Omidyar Network’s government transparency work, which to date has provided support to organizations such as the Sunlight Foundation, mySociety, and Global Integrity.
Opportunity through Mobile: Omidyar Network’s second CGI commitment sets aside $25 million to harness the power of mobile technology in emerging markets. Omidyar Network will back innovative entrepreneurs who use mobile platforms to connect people with vital resources in areas such as financial services and banking, health care, agriculture, commerce, and education. Across these sectors, Omidyar Network will invest in mobile technologies that break new ground in improving access to services, reaching underserved populations, and driving large-scale social impact. This new commitment builds on Omidyar Network’s experience supporting mobile initiatives at organizations such as FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, and Opportunity International.
Engineering for Change is an online environment bringing together engineers and other problem solvers with NGOs and local communities to address basic quality of life issues such as access to clean water, electricity and proper sanitation. Also see their Twitter feed
Google Code wants to become a bigger source forge by Julie BortGoogle Code hosts more than 250,000 open source projects but until last week, only allowed projects that used a limited number of licenses. But on Friday, Google announced it would leave the license discrimination to the folks that do it best, the Open Source Initiative. It will now accept into its forge projects covered by any OSI license. Open source licenses are abundant because a developer that creates something has the right to choose the conditions on a project when sharing it. Phil… 2
Maker Faire Africa is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and creation. Here you will find the Makers who showed their work at the 2010 event in Nairobi Kenya. Work ranges from time saving devices for agriculture to alternative energy sources from design with recycled objects to social media applications for mobile phones. Per maker you will find a short synopsis of their work, their contacts details plus a possibliity to collaborate with them.
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"Digital Tank" (kiosk)
Terra Weikel from Uganda came with briliant idea on how to improve the digitalization of rural Uganda, and they concluded that the best material would be to use a drum which is readily available. They then converted it into a digital tank (kiosk). He was here to create awareness of the digital drum and inspire its use in other African Villages! To inspire for a better Africa, in terms of digitalization.
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"Village Telco"
The Village Telco is an initiative to build low-cost community telephone network hardware and software that can be set up in minutes anywhere in the world. No mobile phone towers or land lines are required. He was here to create awareness of the product and it entrepreneurial sense! To inspire for a better Africa, in terms of Tele-communication.
Maker Faire Africa is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and creation. Here you will find the Makers who showed their work at the 2010 event in Nairobi Kenya. Work ranges from time saving devices for agriculture to alternative energy sources from design with recycled objects to social media applications for mobile phones. Per maker you will find a short synopsis of their work, their contacts details plus a possibliity to collaborate with them.
