Future Media School organised 'Self Organised Learning Environment'- A Workshop by Sugata Mitra

Future Media School, Kolkata presented a Self Organised Learning Environment - A Workshop, which was conducted by the eminent Professor Sugata Mitra recently where students discovered learning in the age of the internet, in an uninhibited session where young minds are encouraged to use the magic of technology.

Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He was given the $1m TED Prize in 2013 in recognition of his work and to help build a School in the Cloud, a creative online space where children from all over the world can gather to answer 'big questions', share knowledge and benefit from help and guidance from online educators.

Following the session with the students, the professor interacted with a selection of school and college faculty at Team Future (Future Institute of Engineering and Management, Future Institute of Technology, Future Business School, Future School of Hospital Management, Future Media School – UG & PG Courses, and Future Campus School – LKG – XII, Affiliated to CBSE) where he spoke about modern modes of education and teaching and the redundancy of the ancient education methods.

Speaking in the early part of the event where students were asked to explain the fundamentals of Television Production, Professor Sugata Mitra explained that while he did not know the basics of the production process, through three groups of students where each group had access to one computer and internet access, he aimed at showing how self-organised environment groups were capable of learning. Through the process, the professor attempted at debunking the conventional mode of learning practices.

The professor also went on to add that in the modern world the concept of knowledge and education has undergone vast metamorphosis. He said, “The process of reading is not so important anymore as is the process of comprehension. Communication has replaced writing while Computation is on its way in making arithmetic redundant.” According to the professor Comprehension, Communication and Computation are the modern modes of knowledge garnering.

Speaking at the event Founder, Future Media School, Dr Mousumi Ghosh expressed her happiness and gratitude on having the eminent professor at her institution. She went on to talk about what she has retained from her days as a young school going child, which according to her was less about the academics and more about a rolly polly mathematics teacher and one sports day event. While thanking Professor Sugata Mitra, she went on to add, “The question as academicians is not only whether we are raising children, but rather are we being able to raise a thinking child.”

Source: Soutrik Das, City Journalist - Kolkata, CollegeDekho