Dr Sugata Mitra, NRI education pioneer, wins $1 mn TED prize for 'hole-in-the-wall' experiment

As a leading proponent of self-directed learning, Mitra developed the concept of SOLEs (Self Organised Learning Environments).

The SOLE approach embraces a process where educators ask the kids big questions, leading them on intellectual journeys rather than asking them to just memorize facts.

With the TED Prize, Mitra will build on his work to create the School in the Cloud: a learning environment that is overseen entirely by a global network of mediators - retired teachers who Skype in through the Cloud.

The school - a lab to be built in India - will serve as both an education and research center to further explore approaches to self-directed learning.

The school will be self-sustaining and managed by cloud technology, with an adult supervisor always on-site. Once complete, the design will become a blue print and available for anyone to duplicate, TED said in a statement. Mitra also released a toolkit for anyone - parents, educators, teachers - interested in trying self-directed learning: How to Bring Self-Organised Learning Environments to Your Community.

It is an online resource designed to help educators and parents support kids (8-12 years old) as they tap into their innate sense of wonder and engage in child-driven learning.

'The TED Prize is a forward-looking prize, and we award it to individuals who have demonstrated significant achievement that the prize wish can build on,' said Lara Stein, Director of the TED Prize.

'Sugata has not only created a remarkable body of research around self-directed learning, but he has support from

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