top of page
Featured Posts

Ecole Hors Murs: Smart by Nature


The Task

To further enhance the nature of the education system and processes in the Abra de Ilog region through the introduction, exploitation, assimilation and embedding of Internet-based learning technologies.

The Western model of education draws little distinction between school – a building or series of buildings; schooling – the assimilation of young people into an educational system taking place in the school; and education – a wider goal that not only prepares young people to survive and thrive in the world around them and beyond in the future but also helps them learn about themselves and enjoy their time as children.

In Udalo Barangay there are four schools yet much of the education the children experience takes place outside of this building and relates to their wider natural environment in a way that is linked to the on-going survival of the community as a whole.

It is our task to work with the community to ensure Internet-enabled learning technologies enhance, not destroy, this.

What We Can Learn

In the developed world, the debate has not yet been resolved about the benefits or otherwise of introducing Internet-enabled learning technologies into schools. There is a tension between existing systemic practices (classrooms, subject-specialist teachers, paper-based and knowledge-based assessment processes and the likes) and the educational possibilities thrown up by having the sum total of all human knowledge at our fingertips through a computer or portable personal device.

In the words of educational pioneer Professor Sugata Mitra:

‘For the current exam system to work it has to deny the existence of the Internet’.

The project at Udalo/Abra de Ilog, therefore, throws up three potential areas from which it is hoped the educational community can learn a great deal:

How to introduce Internet-enabled learning technologies into a technologically pristine environment in a way that retains the existing community’s natural balance and harmony.

How to use Internet-enabled learning technologies in a non-school setting and the implications of this for supporting children and young people out of school around the world due to external factors including crisis, poverty, illness or forced migration.

How to introduce Internet-enabled learning technologies in a meaningful way to enhance existing educational practices and outcomes.

At a time when the speed of technological advancements are matched by the rate of deterioration in the environment, in community cohesion and in societal and personal well-being, this project has the opportunity to explore and understand more fully how technology can be used to enhance and improve our connection with ourselves, or communities and the world around us.

As such it is a very important project. We have a great deal to learn and not much time to do it in.

Featured Posts

Latest Posts

Sign Up For Updates

#Tags

Search By Tags
No tags yet.
Ecosquared-miniLogo06.jpg

PROJECT

bottom of page