An initial investigation to voluntary and unstructured access to computing

Abstract

"The acquisition of basic computer skills by any set of children can be achieved through incidental learning, provided the learners are given access to a suitable computer facility, with entertaining and motivating content and some minimal guidance" (Mitra, 2002). There are great demands on education, which call for a new concept of teaching. The traditional obtaining of a qualification and then working in that field has become redundant. Today, because of rapid change and lifelong, on-going learning, the acquisition of communication skills and the ability to find the necessary information, are vital. These demands require creative and critical thinking to make provision for the explosion of information technology in a world that contains a large population of people without the means to obtain the necessary skills. A computer, connected to the Internet, was placed in Mamelodi, in South Africa, without any instructor to teach the people how to use it. This initiative came from the CSIR after a similar successful project in Cwili in the Eastern Cape. Initially Sugata Mitra of the Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems launched such projects in India.