Neuroeducation and IT: New Methods of Learning

Antonio M. Battro, MD, PhD (Argentina ’86)
Chief Education Officer, One Laptop Per Child Association

Well before the Internet, Antonio M. Battro was working with computer technology and students with disabilities, expanding upon the use of information technologies as “prosthesis of the brain”. He is unfolding several of the inspiring ideas that were launched during his Eisenhower Fellowship in relation to education, computers and the brain. In his final report as an Eisenhower Fellow of May 1986 he wrote,

“it is no longer sensible to define educational development in narrow, nationalistic terms. The great population explosion of the world requires an international approach to dealing with the billions of children who will need a sound education in the near future if we are to maintain justice and peace in the world”.

This idea was shared by many of the scientists with whom he met during his Eisenhower Fellowship in the U.S., in particular by Howard Gardner, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Jonas Salk, director of Salk Institute for Biological Studies, who gave him great support. Battro became the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard in 2002–2003.

Today this educational challenge is reflected by the Millennium Goals of the United Nations and inspires the work of thousands of experts around the world. One of the first initiatives to induce a radical change in education was made by Nicholas Negroponte at MIT who created in 2006 the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) with the mission to give to every child and teacher a sustainable and connected digital platform for learning and teaching, in particular to those most in need in the poor countries. Battro became the Chief Educator Officer of OLPC.

This project has already implemented more than two million laptops in 40 nations and in 2013 introduced specially designed tablets for children that greatly expands upon digital education around the world.

Following the formidable progress of information and communication technologies in education, the field of neuroeducation started to develop. Battro became the second president of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) and an associate editor of the IMBES Journal. He is also a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Academia Nacional de Educación (Argentina). Battro is currently working with an international team of experts in simultaneous brain images using dialog between teachers and students to improve neuroeducation. Years after his fellowship, Battro presses on in his many roles to address the need he articulated so well in his final report, to “maintain justice and peace in the world” through “sound education”.

Eisenhower Fellows are part of a global network of diverse, dynamic, doers.