SOLE and Makerspaces
In February of 2013, Sugata Mitra delivered a powerful TED Talks presentation on the history and future of education. Mitra (2013) explains how the foundation of our current education model was a perfect one for the British Empire to continue to reproduce effective teachers and managers of its own machinery, but today that machine is long over however we still continue to attempt to reproduce it via our outdated education model.
Mitra tells his own story about teaching children in some of the most impoverish and uneducated areas in India using what he referred to as a "computer in a hole" (2013). Mitra would leave these incredibly simple machines in small and remote villages in India and simply vanish for a couple of months, then he would return and ask the children what they have been using the computer for and what they have learned from it. The children would not only have to teach themselves how to operate a computer, but they would also have to teach themselves English in order to interact with the software. Mitra's incredible experiment shows that children left alone with little more than the possibility of discovery and a resource to facilitate that discovery can learn literacy skills, technical skills, and even scientific learning as advanced as DNA replication (2013).
In a broader context, what Mitra has in mind for the future of education is the widespread adoption of Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE). The idea of the SOLE is to inspire the innate curiosity of children to learn, ask questions, and discover answers on their own. Mitra has reminded the world that curiosity and discovery are universal and that any child can learn if given a little encouragement and the right resources. Not only do they not need to be led down a uniform and highly-structured educational plan, but also, this old system might be more detrimental compared to systems based on learning through the child's wonder and imagination (2013). SOLE environments encourage participation in groups and social problem solving to come to solutions for big problems as small communities of learners that grow at their own pace.
A similar method to self organized learning is being implemented in libraries across America. The idea of "makerspaces" has been a topic in libraries recently, and is seen by some to be a way of connecting with the core value of public libraries: namely to facilitate lifelong-learning. Makerspaces treat libraries as social platforms where, according to the editors at American Library Magazine, patrons have opportunities to "create, build, and craft" (nd).
The American Libraries Magazine's website features a whole section dedicated to this exciting trend in American libraries, "makerspaces." At http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/manufacturing-makerspaces you can explore some articles that describe the current uses, future plans, and even the surprisingly long history that makerspaces have in American libraries. According to the magazine's website, the idea of makerspaces can date back into the late 19th century, when a library in New York began hosting sewing and knitting groups for women.
Today's makerspaces are often geared towards computer media creation, offering computer stations with media centered software kits for creating websites, animations, and 3D-modeling. Some other tools that American Libraries Magazine suggests for creating interesting makerspaces are: 3D-printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, and various table-top tools for intricate wood working (Good & Doctorow, nd). What these makerspaces remind us of is that learning is really lifelong and that these Self Organized Learning Environments can turn into powerful social learning hubs for children and adults.
These education models bridge not only age gaps, but also economic gaps between the haves and the have-nots. A well-funded library can provide the discovery tools that enable a community to come together and create, express, and learn in ways that they may not have had the opportunity to have done otherwise. These makerspaces encourage learning advanced, highly technical skills in small groups of learners in much the same way that Mitra shows is possible in his TED Talks presentation. These are spaces that are devoted to empowering the individual to be able to do and explore in a creative way in which is far more natural and beneficial than outdated models of highly prescriptive education. With an idea of inclusion, openness, and encouragement, these makerspaces could have the potential of showing the world that a new direction in education is desperately needed, rather than continuously trying to patch the old model.
References
Good, T. & Doctorow, C. (nd). Manufacturing makerspaces. American Libraries Magazine. Retrieved
October 4, 2013 from http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/manufacturing-makerspaces.
Mitra, S. (2013). Sugata Mitra: Building a school in the clouds [Video File]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html
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