Field Trip to Sudana Naula At Jeevanshala, a tiny primary school in village Maram, 50 k.m. from Almora the focus of Timeless Lifeskills workshops was on self-directed learning, critical thinking, creative expression and multimedia skills.One of the projects we did was on ‘naulas’, a traditional source of water in the mountains. Water pipes and taps are now much prevalent in Himalayan villages and naulas are no longer being properly maintained. However, when there is a crisis,…

If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today would there be no corruption in India? Would relations between India and Pakistan be better? Would he run a factory or spin the wheel? What impact did Mahatma Gandhi have in the Kumaon region? Did the Himalayas influence him?These were some of the questions posed by 6th, 7th and 8th class students of Aarohi Bal Sansar, a school in village Satoli 30 km from Almora, at a recently concluded…

Our sincere thanks to all our contributors for making us feel this spectrum of emotions, by helping us reach our target in our maiden crowd funding campaign, And, a big shout-out to all our supporters for their time, mind share, energy and influence.Thank you all for your faith in Timeless Lifeskills, our belief in inculcating self-directed learning skills in our children, and our dream of making education less exclusive, more affordable.Our comic e-book is rearing…

45 supporters have helped us raise £9,068.Our sincere thanks to all of them. Only £932 remains to be raised of our project cost of £10,000, to create a comic book on self-directed learning and make it available for free to 200 schools for underprivileged children.Even a small contribution has the power to effect a big difference now. Please chip in and help make it happen.You can make an online contribution here - Comic eBook on Self-Directed…

If our children are destined to be doing jobs that haven’t been invented yet, have you thought about how we, as parents, can equip them for a future we cannot even comprehend today? The only thing certain about it is that it will be fiercely competitive.In an ubër wired world with unbelievable access to reams of information, at the touch of their fingertips, children today are all sharp, intelligent and super-capable.What then would set anyone…

At Timeless Lifeskills the three key issues we are addressing are – Relevant Curriculum (life skills needed for shining in the 21st century), Enticing Learning Experience (that appeals to today’s distracted learners) and Affordability (to make education inclusive as it is otherwise becoming expensive and hence exclusive).The past four years have seen us creating and sharing learning modules on life skills, on platforms such as Scribd and Slideshare. Some 215,000 views, 10,500 embeds, 2,200 downloads,…

In the science of ideas, sometimes called ideonomy, we have what Brian Eno calls, ‘scenius’ - “Scenius is like genius, only embedded in the scene rather than the genes. A communal form of genius.”With your help we want to create a 'Scenius for K', the 15 year old hero of our comic ebook.And, from the comments we have been getting it seems that the creation of such a scenius is already happening, for K and…

In an earlier blog post I had shared a quote from Tom Friedman’s interview of Laszlo Bock, senior VP in-charge of hiring at Google: "…I told that student they are much better off being a B student in computer science than an A+ student in English because it signals a rigor in your thinking and a more challenging course load." A little more disconcerting was another comment that Bock made which seems to suggest that…

To fire up K's passion for learning, learning for the sheer joy of it instead of learning to earn, learning for the thrill of knowing something about the world he didn’t know before, something about himself, we plan on taking unsuspecting K, the hero of our comic ebook, on an adventure.

An adventure that will give him an inkling of the world Before Google and prepare him for a world Beyond Google. Before Google, when gaining…

आत्म-निर्देशित अनौपचारिक शिक्षा पर एक रोमांचक चित्रकथाWhen you yearn to learn - learn for the sheer joy of learning - chances are you’ll survive the coming age and its challenges better. Not just survive, but thrive and prosper - ride it. And not just thrive, but find that elusive equilibrium within yourself.Our objective of creating a comic ebook on self-directed, inspired learning is to help young learners understand the value of yearning to learn. In…

If you, like us, are concerned about how children are learning (or not learning) these days, consider joining us in creating a 'Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning Skills' that will provide information and guidance to young adults on how they can become better learners. They will also find reading our comic ebook on their iPod, smart-phone or tablet pretty cool!In the comic ebook, K, our 15 year old hero dives deep into understanding the dynamics…

Fellow travellers on the Jubilee line in London may recall an ad campaign for a university last year. The ad read, “Think Different, Think Employability, Think xxx University”. The ad set me thinking.While considering a university degree if you are thinking employability are you really thinking different? I believe better copy for the ad would have been, “Think Different, Think Value Creation”.After you have got your university degree you think of a job, self-employment or…

My son is going on a school trip to France and since he holds an Indian passport he has to apply for Schengen visa. This morning we went to the company that processes Schengen visa applications.Although the experience was pleasant enough and fairly efficient it made me wonder how secure are the jobs of the people working in this company? How secure is the future of the company itself? Work they are doing – inspecting…

Inspired by the trip I made to the Himalayas in December to conduct Timeless Lifeskills workshops in small schools, I have started rerecording the videos I have created earlier on 21st century life skills with narration in Hindi. Here is the second video with Hindi narration. I discuss why a different set of life skills is essential for flourishing in the 21st century. Original videos in English are available on Timeless Lifeskills website - http://timelesslifeskills.co.uk

कालातीत जीवन कौशल - Timeless Lifeskills video in Hindi: अhen I was interacting with the teachers in the schools in the Himalayas in Dec while conducting my workshops, I figured that the videos I have created on Timeless Lifeskills are relevant and useful for the teachers but because the videos are in English it becomes difficult for most teachers to understand these videos. Hence I have started rerecording these videos with narration in Hindi. Here…

The last workshop I conducted during the Dec 2013 trip to India was at Pataudi, a small town in the state of Haryana.9th class students, 15 from the local government school for girls and 15 from Pathfinder school attended the workshop. The workshop was held at the Pataudi Palace, courtesy of Mrs Sharmila Tagore.My focus was on self-directed learning and how ability to self-learn is becoming essential in the 21st century when knowledge is exploding.We…

Around 30 kms from Almora is village Satoli, where Aarohi is located. Aarohi is a not-for-profit grassroots organization, with the mission of creating development opportunities for rural Himalayan communities through quality healthcare and education, enterprise promotion, sustainable natural resource use, and the revival of traditional culture.I spent three days at a school run by Aarohi called Aarohi Bal Sansar (ABS). Agenda was similar to Jeevanshala – teach the kids basics of movie making and animation…

In Dec 2013 I was in Almora (a major city in the Himalayan state of Uttrakhand) for 10 days conducting workshops on 21st century life skills in small schools and organisations in and around Almora. My experience in one of the schools:50 km from Almora is village Maram. In Maram, Jeevanshala is a tiny school run by two passionate teachers – Shankar and Sandeep. Though well qualified for a government job, in 2001 they decided…

A short video animation explaining the reasons why a new set of life skills is required for success and well-being in the 21 century and what these life skills are.

This is the second part of the Learning to Think video. In this video we explore techniques that help overcome inherent assumptions and biases in our thinking. With the help of examples we learn how thinking skills form a spectrum - instinctive thinking, critical thinking, judicious decision making, creative thinking, problem solving, innovation and meta-cognition.