Professor Sugata Mitra's cur­rent work is on the internet and children's learning. He retired in 2019 as Professor of Educational Technology, Newcastle University.

He conducted the Hole-in-the-Wall (HIW) experiment in 1999, embedding a computer within a wall in an Indian slum at Kalkaji, Delhi; children were allowed to use this computer freely. The experiment aimed at proving that kids could be taught computers very easily without any formal training. Mitra termed this minimally invasive education (MIE). The experiment has since been repeated at many places. He is the recipient of many awards and honorary doctorates from India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries in the world.

His interests include children's education, remote presence, self-organizing sys­tems, cognitive systems, complex dynamical systems, physics, and consciousness.

The Hole-in-the-Wall experiment has left a mark on popular culture. Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup read about Mitra's experiment and was inspired to write his debut novel that went on to become the Oscar-winning movie of 2009-Slumdog Millionaire.

Mitra holds a PhD in physics and is credited with more that 25 inven­tions in the area of cognitive science and educational technology. He was conferred the prestigious Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology from the Government of India in the year 2003. Amongst many other awards, he received the first ever million-dollar TED Prize in 2013.

Recently, he used the money he was awarded when he received the TED Prize to put his educational ideas together to create seven laboratories called "Schools in the Cloud." Here he studied learning as emergent phenomena in an educational self-organizing system. These results question the ideas of curriculum and exami­nations, as well as the meaning of "knowing" itself, in the internet world of the twenty-first century.

The effects of Sugata Mitra's work on the lives of people and the economies of the countries in which his "Schools in the Cloud" have existed can only be guessed at.

List of Figures
List of Companion Website Resources
Foreword John Hattie, Class 3G, Belleville Primary School
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Prelude: A Matter of Imagination
The School in the Cloud: A Chronology
PART I: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHILDREN MEET THE INTERNET?
Chapter 1: Self-Organizing Systems in Learning
1999-The Hole in the Wall
Can Children Learn With Technology?
2007-The Gateshead Experiments
2009-The Granny Cloud
Admiration as Pedagogy: The Kalikuppam Experiment
Skype Grannies
The Hyderabad Project, 2007-2009
The Atlas Learning Centre (ALC) in Gosavi Vasti, India, 2012
2010-When the Rubber Hits the Road: Implementation Around the World
Chapter 2: Schools in the Cloud
TED: An Idea (I Hope Was) Worth Spreading
The Schools in the Cloud
PART II: SCHOOLS IN THE CLOUD
Chapter 3: Area Zero: Gocharan, the Baruipur Municipality, Bengal, India
Learning and Some Huge Challenges
Results
Chapter 4: Area 1: Korakati, the Sundarbans, Bengal, India
Results
Chapter 5: Area 2: Chandrakona, West Midnapore, Bengal, India
Learning and Some Challenges
Chapter 6: Area 3: Kalkaji, New Delhi, India
The Early SOLE at GGSSS/GBSSS
Learning
Results
Chapter 7: Area 4: Phaltan, District Satara, Maharashtra, India
Making Sense of the Data From Phaltan
What the Phaltan Data Said
Chapter 8: Area 5: Killingworth, North Tyneside, England
Chapter 9: Area 6: Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, England
Chapter 10: How to Build Your Own School in the Cloud
Why Would You Want to Build a School in the Cloud?
Will the Internet Ever be Allowed During Examinations?
Space
Furniture
Computing Equipment
Power, Internet, and Climate Control
The Dasghara Model
Using the School in the Cloud
Creating and Posing Big Questions
When SOLEs Go Wrong
PART III: GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE OF LEARNING
Chapter 11: What Did We Learn From the Schools in the Cloud?
How Much Can We Rely on the Research?
What Did We Learn From the Schools in the Cloud?
Chapter 12: Is No Pedagogy Good Pedagogy? Minimally Invasive Education
Education
Education and Cognition
Using the Past
Assessment
A Different Type of Exam
Curriculum
Chapter 13: Where Are the Schools in the Cloud Now?
An Uncertain Future
What Is Happening With the Schools in the Cloud?
Schools in the Cloud Spreading Around the World
Chapter 14: Projection, Prediction, Prophecy, and Phantasy
Looking for the Future
Projection
Prediction
Prophecy
Phantasy
Spontaneous Order
Epilogue
Documentary Discussion Guide
References
Index