The document describes a multi-level education workshop format in India where college students become instructors to teach other students creative problem solving and hands-on learning. The goal is to have the workshops grow exponentially as more students become instructors. The workshops result in community-focused projects. The team has conducted an initial successful workshop and aims to reach over 8,000 participants and instructors by 2015 through their sustainable multi-tier approach. The impact will be a network promoting experiential learning, community engagement, and inspiration of students.

1. Multi-Level Education!
A design & innovation workshop format for college students in India where
students themselves become instructors, and thereby enable the process to
spread organically and grow exponentially. The workshop results in solutions
target to surrounding communities in need.

2. BACKGROUND
Currently, over 50% of India’s population of 1.18 billion is under the age of 25. This
demographic constitutes This part of the demographic constitutes the major proportion of
the population getting an education.
India has a strong higher education system for engineering and design, but opportunities
for students to learn creative thinking and innovation through hacking and hands-on
building are unfortunately still limited.
It also translates into an opportunity to impact half a billion people and create valuable
intellectual capital. Integrating innovative problem-solving and hands-on learning is a step
towards differentiating one’s education and actively contributing to shaping the future.

3. INNOVATION::STEPS TO OUR VISION
Design and Innovation Workshops based on a Impactful projects through field trips, discussions
design studio approach with NGOs, local communities. (Gesture controlled
wheelchair, Pune Jan 2011)
Workshop
by
Media
Lab
Instructors
Workshops
by
Pyramidal scheme ensuring scalability
trained
students
.
.
Teacher’s training program
.
Online platform highlighting process for
replicating workshops

4. FEASIBILITY
The team has successfully conducted its first Design and Innovation workshop in Jan 2011 in India with
150 participants and 30 innovation projects.
The process for conducting workshops with a set of trained instructors has been documented and made
available online.
Contacts with universities, the industry and NGOs will help identify local community problems.
We are building on a multi-tier approach that will ensure scalability.
An%cipated
reach
of
the
workshop
by
2015
(20%
of
par%cipants
become
instructors
in
subsequent
workshops)
Instructors
ParCcipants
8100
2700
900
300
540
20
60
180
2011-­‐2012
2012-­‐2013
2013-­‐2014
2014-­‐2015

5. IMPACT
Mul$-­‐Level
Educa$on
aims
at
crea$ng
a
sustainable
educa$on
ecosystem
that
promotes
hands-­‐on
learning
experience,
engages
and
inspires
students
to
work
on
meaningful
problems
for
their
communi$es
and
the
world
at
large.
Its
mul$-­‐level
nature
ensures
scalability.
report
problems,
challenges
infrastructure,
represent
logisCcs
commercially
community
available
products
and
INSTRUCTORS
needs
services
mentor,
criCque
impacLul
design,
prototypes,
prototype
potenCal
markets
research
papers,
inspire
industry
R&D
SUSTAINABLE
ECOSYSTEM

6. TEAM
MIHIR SARKAR is a musician and an engineer ANDREA COLACO is a PhD student at the MIT
of Indian descent who was born and raised in Media Lab. She is also an active member of the
ROHIT PANDHARKAR is an engineer with a
Paris, France. He has worked in software Media Lab India Initiatives and was one of the
keen passion for driving social
engineering, digital audio signal processing, organizers of the first Design and Innovation
entrepreneurship. He was recently awarded the
and research & development consulting in the workshop in India. She received a SM in Media
prestigious StartingBloc Fellowship 2011. He is
USA, Europe, and India. Mihir holds a Diplôme Technology from MIT and an undergrad in EE
currently a graduate student in the Camera
d'Ingénieur in Computer Science, Electronics, from BITS, Pilani – Rajasthan. While in
Culture group at MIT Media Lab. He spends
and Automatic Systems from ESIEA in Paris, undergrad she participated in rural
time sitting around, wondering how one can
and received a Master of Science degree in entrepreneurship development in and around
track objects that cannot be seen (that also
Media Technology from the Massachusetts Rajasthan and worked with a team that
happens to be his masters thesis). He is a
Institute of Technology (MIT). He is currently a introduced Self Help Groups (SHGs) among
Startingbloc Fellow (2011), a Center for Future
PhD candidate and a research assistant at the women in Rajasthan. Prior to starting graduate
Storytelling Fellow (2010), and a Narotam
MIT Media Lab. He served as the founding studies, she worked at HP Labs on low cost
Sekhsaria Fellow (2009). He represented India
Teaching Assistant for the MIT course on information access devices for unsophisticated
at Loreal Ingenius 2008 (Paris) and IET
Information and Communication Technology for users. She participated in the next billion
International PATW Research Finals
Development (Next Billion Network), and co- network effort at MIT and worked on an
(Amsterdam). He completed his Bachelor of
organized the first Design & Innovation education related project that partnered with the
Technology in Electronics and
workshop in India. In addition, Mihir heads the Telmex Foundation in Mexico to connect
Telecommunications Engineering at the College
MIT Media Lab's India Initiatives, which aims to undergraduate students in Mexico to share their
of Engineering Pune, India (COEP). His
foster collaborations between the Media Lab ideas, set goals together and become
research interests lie in signal processing,
and Indian organizations. His research interests influenced by each other.
imaging, communications, information theory,
include real-time online musical collaboration, Her research interests include design social
and cryptography.
interactive multimedia systems, and technology media experiences and mobile sensors for
for the developing world. multi-modal interaction.