Just a few hours?

Today's reading explained that the creators of the Kalkaji Experiment (Beyond the Hole in the Wall project) wanted to see just how important technology was, not self-directed learning. Their discovery that kids can learn without teachers was a happy accident.

I was shocked to learn today that the children who taught themselves to use the computer actually did so in just a few hours. The researchers explained that just a few hours after the children from the slums used the internet, they were surfing the web.

The  children went on to learn the full operations of all mouse functions, hardware and software operations after six months. That is probably the length of a school year when taking breaks into consideration. My thought is that self-directed learning is very effective, but it takes longer. I wonder if my classroom could be effective in a 100% self-directed environment being that I need my students to master more than one skill. But I will say that it is impressive that the students did not learn just how to operate the device, but they developed a full mastery of it. I cannot say that my students leave my room with a full mastery of the English language.