Self-reliant learning

Cafe,

On 24 Dec. 2008, PBS's _The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer_ re-broadcast a
very interesting report by journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro:

	"School in India Teaches Women to Improve Lives, Towns.

	"The Barefoot College in northern India teaches women skills
	to bring solar power to their villages and to manage the
	energy system in rural areas. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on
	the philosophy behind the school and its unusual approach to
	empowering women."

As summarized by social entrepreneur Bunker Roy, Founder of Barefoot
College:

	"Our job is to show how it is possible to take an illiterate
	woman and make her into an engineer in six months and show
	that she can solar-electrify a village."

Most relevant to information designers: the training program stresses
self-reliant learning and visual literacy. Classes are

	"run by instructors who themselves have little or no formal
	education. Instruction is delivered with a mix of body
	language, a few essential terms in English, and a lot of
	hands-on practice.

	"The students create an illustrated manual they'll take home.
	It's the closest thing to a diploma certifying their training
	as solar technicians."

A full transcript, with links to audio and streaming video downloads,
is available at

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec08/indiaschool_10-06.html


Best wishes to all for the upcoming new year!
Deborah
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Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]



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