The "hole-in-the-wall" experiments of 1999, as named by the popular media, started with an Internet-connected computer being embedded in a wall facing a slum in Kalkaji, New Delhi, India. Several studies showed that groups of children, when given access to the Internet, can learn by themselves. Children's academic marks improved, and…

This paper describes the effects of collaborative support on groups of distance learners of General Certificate of Secondary Education mathematics. Two experiments are described. In each case, learners were provided with teleconferencing with peers, experts and mentors in addition to structured study materials. No improvements were noticed in…

What and how much can children learn without subject teachers? In an attempt to find a limit to self organized learning, we explored the capacity of 10-14 year old Tamil-speaking children in a remote Indian village to learn basic molecular biology, initially on their own with a Hole-in-the-Wall public computer facility, and later with the help of…