Reflection #6

School in a Cloud
Sugata poses a question of how the school structure is not broken but that it is made for a different time.  He had noticed that wealthy parents called their children special as they were able to maneuver their way through computer programs.  Next door, there were children who could not afford a computer.  Sugata  gave the poor children computer with no instruction (hole in the wall: computer inside) Months later, they became proficient in using it and learned English as the computer's information was in English.

"Punishment and tests are seen as threats...brains shut down...and we say perform!"  Speaks about education needing to go from threats to pleasure. "Learning is a product of educational self-organization...The teacher sets the process in motion and stands back in awe."

SOLE (self organized learning environment) : broadband + collaboration + encouragement/admiration.
Curriculum of big questions.

This was an interesting TED talk as Sugata desires for the educational system to re-evaluate for what purpose it was built.  With his studies, he had found children to do well on their own in exploring different ideas and subjects.  Although he is a bit of an idealist, his ideas border those of the ones in the AVID program.  The main question in both AVID and Sugata's vision is the idea that we need a curriculum of big questions.  In this way, teachers are given less responsibility to produce students who know; students become responsible for their own learning (with one prompt/question from the teacher) and excel.  My question is whether Sugata is being unrealistic about his vision and if education moves toward this direction, if the job of teaching would become obsolete just as he poses "knowing is obsolete."