Mobile Gurukul: Turning the Risk (of Not Knowing) to be an Intellectual Springboard

Abstract

Supporting teachers' interaction with instructional materials, while developing curricular, subject matter and pedagogical knowledge are major goals of professional development programs world-wide. Mobile Gurukul project focuses on supporting teachers' professional development in the rural areas, especially in the rural of areas India. We address their intellectual isolation using ubiquitous technology (landline phone, mobiles and web), designing it as an open collaborative framework, attempting to create a community knowledge production via phones similar to the production of Open Source programming or the Web2 communities. The project was piloted in 2011 and currently being experimented with by implementing two models of dissemination: Bottom-up model of one district initiation andTop-Down model led by government.