Parimala spoke about 3 experiments conducted in different parts of India, which ‘moved the personal computer (PC) into playgrounds’. These experiments showed that given adequate resources, groups of children were able to acquire computing skills without adult intervention.

Her presentation described results of studies of technology enabled learning in groups, in art, mathematics and computer science in rural and urban contexts. She explained how they had to think of not only the educational content of the programme, but also the design of the ‘kiosks’ that would house the computers – their height had to be child-friendly etc.

She shared observations of how the children would help each other learn, how leadership patterns emerged in the groups, how an illiterate child learnt to spell his name and renamed every file on the computer with his name!

She asserted that while there were parts of the curriculum that had to be ‘taught’, or where the students required assistance and mentorship from someone, there were parts that could be self-taught. The experiments showed possibilities for a new pedagogical approach to some aspects of education attainment.

The talk was attended by research students and social workers, and they discussed possibilities of replicating these experiments in their respective localities.