
Students at a School in the Cloud lab in India investigate a big question on their own in a SOLE. At the newly-opened SOLE Central at Newcastle University, research will be conducted on this type of learning. Photo: School in the Cloud
Picture a classroom teacher without a lesson plan — a teacher who instead asks students an open-ended question to explore: Can animals think? Did dinosaurs exist? What is a soul?
With the opening of Newcastle University’s SOLE Central on Monday, this vision is coming to life, in a research center where the concept can be tweaked and improved as it rolls out to the wider world.
SOLE Central is the first global hub for research into self-organized learning environments (SOLEs) – the style of learning championed by TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra. In his 2013 prize-winning wish, Mitra offered up a vision of education that combines the resources of the Internet with a child’s own sense of curiosity. The School in the Cloud, as he calls it, is a global experiment where kids puzzle through big questions and ideas on their own with minimal assistance, teaching one another in the process. Mitra’s SOLE concept is being piloted at seven School in the Cloud labs in the UK and India, and SOLE Central will build on this, bringing together academic researchers, educators, policymakers and entrepreneurs to help test this concept as a model for primary education.
Mitra will serve as the Director of SOLE Central. His initial research suggests that children in SOLE environments can learn almost anything by themselves and that they truly absorb the subjects they research – often years ahead of their age group. But more research needs to be conducted, recorded and housed in one place. This is the reasoning behind SOLE Central at Newcastle.

Sugata Mitra looks dreamily in the distance at the opening of SOLE Central. Photo: Alexander Wilson/Zander Photography
“SOLE Central will enable us to make a valuable contribution to the education of children worldwide,” says Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor Chris Brink. “It will make a lasting legacy of what Sugata has started.”
James Stanfield, the director of the School in the Cloud project, played a major role in setting up SOLE Central. As he says: “While we love the no-nonsense approach of educators and practitioners who are just getting on and doing it, we also recognize the need to better understand the impact of SOLEs on children’s learning and development over time and how this differs in different contexts around the world. The new research center will allow us to catch up, so that the research continuously feeds into and informs practice, and vice versa.”
SOLE Central will host Ph.D. students exploring a range of subjects, including the impact of SOLEs on reading comprehension in schools in New York and the potential of SOLEs to improve learning after school. Researchers here will use sensors to observe students’ activity on computers, and look at the kinds of architecture that maximize self-organized learning. Other researchers have expressed interest in looking at self-organization in the work environment.
Data used for analysis at SOLE Central will come from the School in the Cloud project, as well as from collaborations with partners like Microsoft and Pencils of Promise. In all, this new research center represents an important step forward. Because, as Mitra puts it, “SOLEs are the first step towards preparing our children for a future we can barely imagine.”
Find out more about Sugata Mitra’s TED Prize wish »
Find out how you can bring SOLEs to your community with our SOLE toolkit and resources »
Comments (12)
Carol Coons commented on Nov 12 2015
Whoever thinks this is a new concept obviously never heard of a little Italian lady named Maria Montessori. Imagine what she could have done with the Internet. Edison was chucked out of school at an early age and was self taught most of his life. Autodidacts are frequently better educated than many people in formal school settings. We had a higher percentage of literacy before the advent of the public school system. If we had really great teachers in schools, it might be different, but you get what you pay for, and we are not paying for excellence.
ปณิธาน วรรณวัลย์ commented on Jul 3 2015
excellent
eednet commented on Nov 17 2014
Reblogged this on eedNET Resource Bank and commented:
What would you like to learn today? Building a center for research into Self-Organized Learning
Sarah Pressler commented on Nov 15 2014
It’s called unschooling and home schoolers have been doing it for decades….successfully. Welcome to real life learning!
Charroseonline commented on Nov 14 2014
Love the idea- Open ended exploratory questions I’d love that!
laumartag commented on Nov 13 2014
Reblogged this on La palabra ajena.
Sandy commented on Nov 13 2014
Reblogged this on Learn • Have Fun • Be Empowered.
bjoyce12 commented on Nov 13 2014
Reblogged this on Our Global Classroom and commented:
4J take a read of this article. Think about if you were in a classroom and there was no lesson plan and you were in control of your learning. Tell me your thoughts about what you’ve read. I’m interested in your opinion.
From Mrs Joyce
Tasnia Rahman commented on Nov 12 2014
Reblogged this on A Muslimahs pocketful of sunshine and commented:
interesting….
misstrainee commented on Nov 12 2014
Reblogged this on Miss Trainee and commented:
This is a really interesting idea for the world of education. I love open lessons and facilitating children’s curiosity to learn. However this could only really work with children who all want to learn!
We are fighting a new generation who are realising school doesn’t necessarily get you to where you want to be. It’s good to have some guidelines for open ended lessons. Teachers or facilitators should also be really well trained specialists in subjects to make this really work!
I personally would think this is a great extra curricular activity or maybe for Fridays – perfect opportunity to set some weekend homework.
R is for Rogue commented on Nov 12 2014
Reblogged this on R is for Rogue and commented:
I think this would work for a small number of learners, however in a class size of 50 students, I think some students would breakaway and simply do something else altogether like play around or sleep.
Sam Hang Tran commented on Nov 12 2014
Reblogged this on now and then.