The Granny Cloud, Xbox Learning and the Future of Education
Following our work with Skype for Good, Made by Many were introduced to renowned educational Sugata Mitra. 2013 TED Prize-winner, Professor Mitra,engaged us to help him build a School in the Cloud, where children could explore and learn from one another.
Building on his groundbreaking ‘Hole in the Wall project, Sugata aimed to transform education by fostering Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) for children.
This was a complex project with many strands, including interfaces for The Granny Cloud (a network of retired teachers), XBox One experiences for Learning Labs in remote parts of India and the UK, & a toolkit to support parents & educators around the world to run their own SOLEs.
The project was revealed live on stage at TED Global 2014 in Vancouver by Chris Anderson.
Co-creating the platform with multiple stakeholders
We used participatory design to broaden stakeholder voices & involve children, educators, ‘Skype Grannies’ and Sugata’s research team at Newcastle University and in India.
A platform of experiences
We designed for a range of experiences, including Microsoft XBox One, MS Surfaces and safe browser-based search, scrapbooking & presentation tools.
Sugata’s empowering ‘Big Questions’ approach
Sugata's approach is centered on asking big, open-ended questions that students work together in groups to research & answer. It fosters curiosity & critical thinking puts students in control of their own learning journeys.
Enabling a growing community
Self Organised Learning Environments were implemented in 27 countries in within the first 12 months and the SOLE toolkit was downloaded over 50,000 times. The ‘Granny Cloud’ grew added 700 new Skype Grannies.
Collecting data to support academic research
The platform provided the network & tools for self-directed learning whilst capturing the research data Sugata’s team required to provide a deeper understanding of the approach.
A collaborative approach
With so many strands, project partners included the global TED community, Microsoft/Skype Social Good, Sundance, Made by Many, IDEO & Newcastle University coming together to design the future of learning.
A legacy of innovation
British documentary filmmaker Jerry Rothwell followed the progress of Sugata’s experiment for three years & released the film ‘The School in the Cloud’ in 2018.
Project Impact
250
Educators involved in co-designing the platform
250
Educators involved in co-designing the platform
Help me build the School in the Cloud where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online.
Sugata Mitra
Help me build the School in the Cloud where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online.
Sugata Mitra
Photos credit Dian Lofton/TED, Made by Many, Newcastle University
More like this
