Re: Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Charles Pinneo <pinneo () sbcglobal net>
Date: February 25, 2009 7:42:09 AM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk 
>
Subject: Re: [IP] Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire

Brian,

Fantastic story!

The computer IS the perfect teaching machine. It only needs to be  
refined a little.

What this suggests is that the teacher may not be necessary. It also  
suggests that the best teaching may be for the teacher to get  
completely out of the way instead of spoiling the learning situation.  
As teachers, I wonder if Brian Randell and Dave Farber agree that  
teachers often get in the way and stifle learning.

Although one thing a teacher can do better is to interact at the point  
of frustration and then re-teach at that point to clarify. Computers  
cannot yet read a students facial expressions, see frustration, and  
then re-teach the part he didn't understand. Score one for the teacher.

Although my Sony camera can snap the shutter when it reads a smile.  
Score one for the computer.

Mac iPhoto has face recognition for finding, for example, all the  
pictures of your daughter in your iPhoto database and putting them in  
a folder. So it won't be long until frustration is detected. Score one  
for the computer.

But, remembering the perfect explanation from last year's lesson plan  
is another story, unless you saved your lesson plans from last year.  
Score one for the computer.

But, teachers have a tendency to assume that the student already knows  
as much as you do, so you leave out steps you already know. Score one  
for the computer.

Teachers are warm to the touch. Score one for the teacher.

Teachers sometimes smell funny.    ;-)  Score one for the computer.

Charles Pinneo
pinneo () sbcglobal net


-----------------------------
On Feb 24, 2009, at 12:43 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk>
> Date: February 24, 2009 12:01:22 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Background to the film Slumdog Millionaire
>
> Hi Dave:
>
> For IP if you think it is appropriate:
>
> > A NEWCASTLE professor watched Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire -  
> > not realising he was the inspiration behind the movie.
> >
> > A decade ago Professor Sugata Mitra knocked a hole through the wall  
> > of his laboratory in New Delhi, India, so children in the adjoining  
> > slum could play on one of his computers.
> >
> > The experiment, to see whether unschooled children would teach  
> > themselves how to use the internet if left to their own devices,  
> > was intended as an educational tool.
> >
> > But it eventually inspired the film which swept the Oscars on  
> > Sunday night.
> >
> > As he celebrated the film's success, original author Vikas Swarup  
> > said he wrote Q&A, which was adapted for the screen by Simon  
> > Beaufoy, as a direct result of hearing about street children using  
> > Professor Mitra's computer.
> . . .
>
> Full story at:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/czcd32
>
> See also:
>
> http://markkobayashihillary.computing.co.uk/2009/02/a-niit-at-the-movies.html
>
> cheers
>
> Brian
>
> --
> School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon  
> Tyne,
> NE1 7RU, UK
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
> FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell
>
>
>
>
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