How to Set Up a Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) at School

SOLE refers to a Self Organized Learning Environment. It is the brainchild of Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University in the UK. Through SOLE, children ages 8 through 12 direct the learning process and follow pathways that many of the traditional educational approaches do not make room for. SOLE relies on the use of technology, collaboration and encouragement as the basis for encouraging learning. Provided you're able to connect to the internet at school, SOLE can be used as the way of learning for your class. Setting it up at school is a simple process that can complement the classwork normally undertaken.

Method 1
Method 1 of 6:

Understanding Your Role

As a teacher, you'll already be fully aware of the importance of your role as an educator and as a person who inspires a love of learning. Your enthusiasm for learning will already be setting a positive tone within the classroom. From here, there are some other ways to help the class participants enjoy the SOLE activities even more.

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    Be openly curious along with the students. In class, students can sometimes be worried that they might ask a "stupid question". This can stifle learning if children are worried that their peers and teacher are judging them unfairly for a dumb question. As a teacher, you can show that there is never such a thing as a stupid question, and you can help children to see that it is often the person who has the courage to ask a question who is able to get answered what everyone else was wondering!
    • Have a class discussion about the worth of asking questions. Ask them how they feel about asking questions, who they are most likely and least likely to ask questions around, and why. This will help them to explore what may be holding them back from asking questions in different situations of their life.
    • Lead discussions by asking questions and getting class participants to do the same with each other.
    • Invite your class to be a question zone, one where nobody's question is ever ridiculed.
    • Help class participants to formulate questions themselves. Some of the participants may have a difficult time with question asking as a skill, so it's useful to give them the tools to do this.
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    Make the space for SOLE activities as part of the regular classwork. Once a week, choose a one hour period during which SOLE activities are pursued as part of the usual coursework. The activities can even be based around existing coursework obligations that if that assists you with finding the space for it.
    • The SOLE activity will require about an hour to complete, although the first session may take a little longer due to you needing to explain what SOLE activities are about.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 6:

Setting Up SOLE in the Classroom

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    Ensure that the class has the basic equipment. It's quite likely that you already have the basics but just in case, here's what you need to get started:
    • A laptop or a desktop computer. The class will need access to approximately one per four children for this to work well.
    • A whiteboard or blackboard where you can write down the questions being asked.
    • Paper and pens. This lets children take notes to share. Remember too that writing on paper has a mind and body connection that is different from typing, and many creative people insist that this connection sparks different ways of thinking, so encourage both.
    • Webcam, microphone, creative software for graphics manipulation/videos/music making, etc.
    • Name tags. This is optional but it might be necessary if the children are younger or don't know each other that well yet. And it can be a good way to make it clear who is the helper.
Method 3
Method 3 of 6:

Planning the SOLE

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    Follow the approach of question, investigation and review. This simple approach gives plenty of room for discovery, research, creativity, analysis and conclusions.
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    Determine a question. Make the question an exciting one that sparks the imagination and interest of the class participants. The best questions tend to be those that are large, open-ended, difficult and interesting:
    • Encourage class participants to consider theories rather than concrete answers. If the question seems unanswerable, children will be encouraged to posit many possibilities, pushing their thinking boundaries.
    • Broader, harder questions promote deeper and longer discussions.
    • Consider using a mix of familiar things and less well known things. For example, you might ask questions related to coursework already covered along with questions about things the class participants are yet to learn about.
    • For many ideas of good questions, check both How to formulate questions for SOLE activities and the SOLE guide at http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_toolkit.
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    Provide a prompt to accompany the question. There are many possibilities here, such as reading a brief information sheet, showing a video, playing music or audio, showing images, etc., all things related to the question. Basically, look for things that spark curiosity and cause the class participants to want to dig deeper and look for the solutions.
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Method 4
Method 4 of 6:

The Class's First SOLE activity

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    Set aside approximately an hour. You might need a little more or less time, that depends on the question, the context and the children involved.
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    Explain what SOLE is all about. The first time you perform a SOLE investigation, you'll need to talk about the process and what it means. Explain how it differs from a typical lesson and what sort of learning will be occurring. Focus strongly on how this is an exercise is self organization, making it clear that you'll be standing back and simply awaiting the outcomes.
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    Divide the class into groups. When forming groups, bear in mind that about 4 person per computer is optimal for the best learning results.
    • For each group, delegate a "peer helper". The peer helper is responsible for delegating within the group, such as resolving issues, problem-solving, etc. This, in itself, is an important learning process in helping peers to get along and learning to lead.
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    Ask the question (see above).
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    Set aside about 40 minutes for the investigation part of the SOLE activity.
    • Ask the class groups to keep records of their investigation. This can be notes, photos, quotes, audio recordings, drawings, diagrams, print-outs, etc.––basically, whatever they feel documents the investigation in the way that explains their findings. These notes will help them to give their presentation at the next stage.
    • When the children are exploring the questions, leave them to it. The peer helper should help to steer the group and resolve issues. Only step in if it's really necessary during the investigation phase.
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    Review. After the 40 minutes are up, ask the class groups to come back together as a whole class. Sit down together. Ask them to present their findings and talk about how the investigation went. As a teacher, facilitate their discussion by asking about the investigation, listening and encouraging other groups to make observations. Your role is as a moderator––do not add value to their presentation. For example, if you feel that the children are not answering on point, simply ask them to think carefully about whether they're answering the question when giving their presentation.
    • Ask what conclusions/answers/ideas the children have reached, on a group-by-group basis. When doing this, encourage each participant to talk, not just the one most willing to summarize the issues. Even within the group, there will be differences of perspective.
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    Summarize. After the children have had a good chance to give their presentations and explore their responses, then you can summarize what the groups have said. This is the time when you can add value.
    • Ask the participants what they felt about the experience. Ask for comparisons with the children's own lives/experiences and knowledge, etc.
    • Ask the participants what they felt they did well during the investigation, including noting what others did well. And ask them what they'd do differently the next time––it's as important to learn about what doesn't work as much as what does.
    • Ask the groups what they feel about the answers and ideas of other groups.
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Method 5
Method 5 of 6:

Troubleshooting

As with anything run with groups, sometimes the participants experience challenges from reticence to conflict. Each needs to be dealt with appropriately but in the spirit of getting the participants to learn how to manage their own problems, as well as staying focused on self organization.

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    Respond in a way that gets the participants to find solutions to the problem as much as possible. Try not to intervene but give the children the responsibility for resolving the problems. Typical issues that might arise during a SOLE activity in the classroom include:
    • One member of the group complains that another member isn't doing anything to help: Ask the helper to facilitate getting both children re-engaged. The ability to not run to an adult is part of the learning process.
    • One member of the group appears disinterested and unwilling to participate: Ask the helper to facilitate re-engaging and have the children understand that they can make changes as the investigation goes along. If you're ever investigating with several groups, children can also change groups, but this is usually only a useful solution for school or classroom situations.
    • There are squabbles over the computer availability: Help them to discuss ways of sharing the computer––let them find their own solutions by asking them questions about how to resolve it.
    • The helper isn't behaving: Suggest ways that can help the helper to manage the group. If you need to discuss difficult behavior, do so away from other participants and always praise the good things that the helper did.
    • The answer isn't correct. This is a good opportunity to explore what sources the children used and why they came to the conclusion that they did; it's a fantastic opportunity to teach critical thinking skills about why the children didn't discard information that isn't actually credible or reliable.
Method 6
Method 6 of 6:

Future SOLE activities

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    Continue using SOLE in your classroom as a regular activity. Even excursions as a class can form part of a SOLE investigation, such as museum or gallery visits.
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    Encourage your students to take up SOLE activities at home. Help them to explore learning beyond the classroom and as part of their everyday lives.
    • You could even consider holding a SOLE information session for parents one evening. Show them how the SOLE works and give them some ideas for running SOLE activities in the home environment.
    • Encourage after-school programs within your school environment to follow SOLE activities as one of the options for children to pursue after class.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    Can age norms be flexible or will it hinder the learning?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    It depends on the age difference. If it is a large gap consider aspects for both sides/age groups to engage them correctly.
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References

  1. http://www.ted.com/pages/prizewinner_sugata_mitra – research source
  2. http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_toolkit – research source
  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiGbfhnvT4Q – research source

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 55,546 times.
81 votes - 86%
Co-authors: 4
Updated: February 17, 2022
Views: 55,546
Categories: Teacher Resources
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