Help us Help 200 Schools, but hurry

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, 3010 likes and 584 followers encouraged us to build our website, which we plan to develop as a platform for engaging conversations and productive collaboration.

Our Latest Initiative

A comic ebook on self-directed learning (a skill essential for thriving in a knowledge abundant world but a skill not taught in schools) is an experiment to entice otherwise reluctant learners through a cool form factor. We plan to sell the comic ebook on platforms like Kindle store (at an affordable £2, that is $3.5 or Rs 200) and all revenue generated will be used to create more comics on other life skills.

We have conducted pro bono workshops in India at schools for underserved children and understand that even £2 (Rs 200) is out of their reach. We also need to address the lack of devices to read ebooks in these schools. Thus, we will be translating the comic into Hindi and printing 1000 copies. We will send 5 free copies to 200 schools in India that are teaching underprivileged children.

We have launched a crowd funding campaign to raise £10,000, which is the production cost of this project. Here’s the break-up:

Researching, writing, editing, illustrating, designing: £8,000

Printing 1000 copies in full colour on a good quality paper: £1,500

Packing and distribution to 200 schools: £500

So far we have raised around £5,000 and urge you to consider making a contribution to help us meet our target. You can make an online contribution here by choosing one of the perks or give any amount you like – http://bit.ly/Rclzh9

You can also help spread the word by liking or sharing this post.

Hurry! Our crowd funding campaign ends in a week’s time, on May 20th.

A Scenius for K

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 for the team behind K!

Uzma Aslam Khan, a Pakistani author says, "A wonderful project. I think a lot of people are thinking about this, but also not doing much about it. It takes hope and innovation. I wish the team, the best."

Deonne Newby, Assistant Manager at Peacocks Academy, an East London based charity offering alternative provisions to young people aged 14-19 years who are at risk of exclusion in main stream education reiterates the social benefit of the project, "We often deal with very independent, quite challenging, individuals who do not necessarily respond to the conventional methods of learning and thus we are always looking at other ways for students to learn, and more importantly enjoy learning. I feel that the comic ebook project could be something to look further into in regard to supporting our learners."

There is also traction in the corporate world. According to Nishma Gosrani, Director, Deloitte Consulting, London, "The ability to unlearn and relearn, to continually reinvent yourself, all life long is imperative for thriving and being successful in the corporate world. This is a fantastic and innovative tool - a great way to entice and encourage young people."

Mr Suhil Radia, MD, Westminster Healthcare, London notes, "This is an excellent initiative by Timeless Lifeskills. In the days of just in time marginal learning one needs an ability to distinguish between facts and opinions."

Pooja Guha from New Delhi, who works in the eclectic field of cultural branding for corporates (putting her LSE degree in Social Anthropology to good use, as she likes to say!), is highly supportive of the comic ebook. She shared with us the insights she formulated while working on a project recently which involved studying child representation and iconography in Indian culture, "Alongside the dominant stereotype of the stimuli-laden digital native, a new alternative and very niche profile is also emerging – a child who is encouraged to step out, make mistakes, be curious and play and live in an environment where boredom and free time are not bad words."

It's what we're telling K too, Pooja - thanks!
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Our crowd funding campaign to create a comic ebook on self-directed learning is progressing well. 24 contributors have already helped us raise £3,500, which is 35% of our target amount of £10,000 we need to create the fully illustrated comic ebook, in English and in Hindi.

Help us raise the balance. Ask your friends, family and colleagues to open their heart and their wallet and make an online contribution (any credit or debit card or Paypal account will work) - Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning

Flash Boys and an Education in Liberal Arts

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 aim of education is ‘learning to earn’ -

Or, he added, think of this headline from The Wall Street Journal in 2011: “Students Pick Easier Majors Despite Less Pay.” This was an article about a student who switched from electrical and computer engineering to a major in psychology. She said she just found the former too difficult and would focus instead on a career in public relations and human resources. “I think this student was making a mistake,” said Bock, even if it meant lower grades. “She was moving out of a major where she would have been differentiated in the labor force” and “out of classes that would have made her better qualified for other jobs because of the training.”

Personally, Wall Street Journal is the last place I would consider to figure out the purpose of education!

I think formal education needs to focus on liberal arts (Bock too recommends this).

Think of Michael Lewis’ latest book, Flash Boys, which is about High Frequency Traders (HFT) figuring out clever ways of making money by shaving off milliseconds in online share transactions. They spend millions in laying direct fibre-optic cable and microwave internet connections to stock-exchange servers and to place their server inside stock-exchanges, to gain an information advantage. 

The way this works is that when an investor places a trade online for buying shares in a company, the high frequency trader picks up this trade a few milliseconds before the trade reaches the stock-exchange server. The HFT then buys the stock from the stock-exchange and sells it to the investor for a little more. This may look like a small margin but when you multiply it with millions of dollars of trading that takes place every day the high frequency trader makes huge money.

This is unnecessary intermediation that adds no value and borders on cheating. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Attorney General have launched an investigation to see if this is equivalent of insider trading.

The sad part, as Michael Lewis notes in an interview with Charlie Rose, is that the HFT say that they are not doing anything illegal and hence this is a fair way of making money. Even worse, some young programmers find HFT really smart and cool. They seem to be missing the point that what HFT are doing is ethically wrong even if it is within the letter of the law.

Juxtapose this with what French economist (now being called Rockstar Economist), Thomas Piketty says in his book, ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ – that inequality is on the rise in America because of inheritance and extravagantly paid ‘super managers’. The American dream of ‘hard work leading to success’ is being belied and the ‘rags to riches’ story works out for only a few people because the system is now so structured that most of the times it is only the rich who become richer.

If an education in liberal arts is ignored, then chances are we will have more people like the high frequency traders who think successful life is only about finding clever ways of making money.

Imagine, a World Full of Computer Scientists!

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 knowledge was difficult and grit, perseverance and lot of intrinsic motivation was needed just to know; the Google era when knowledge is available on tap and what is important is an ability to connect the dots; and, Beyond Google – realising the timeless wisdom of passion with compassion, equanimity, harmony, well-being and joy.



We didn't realise that our B.G. - 'Before and Beyond Google' thinking would prove so prescient.



In a recent column, Tom Friedman interviews Laszlo Bock, who is in-charge of global hiring at Google, to get Bock's advice for job-seekers anywhere, not just at Google. Among a lot of good advice Bock makes a statement that we find disconcerting. He says, "…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."



If the vision Google has with its Glass is 'a world full of computer scientists' then we sure want to prepare K for a different future!

Help us create an enthralling learning adventure for K, which we hope will inspire many others his age. Some images from the storyboard are pasted below (final version will be more polished and in colour).



Pre-order the comic ebook for just £2 ($3.5, INR 200) or select from other options of supporting our initiative. Visit our crowd-funding page on IndieGogo -  

http://bit.ly/Rclzh9

Don't delay, Act now! Also tell your friends and colleagues.

Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning

आत्म-निर्देशित अनौपचारिक शिक्षा पर एक रोमांचक चित्रकथा

When 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 the comic ebook our 15 year old hero dives deep into understanding the dynamics of learning and learns the dispositions he needs to cultivate.

To enhance the social impact, we are producing the comic ebook in English and in Hindi initially and if funds permit then in other languages too. Watch a short video introduction of the comic ebook in English and in Hindi below.

You can pre-order the comic ebook, in English or in Hindi, for just £2 (US $3.5 or INR 200). Or you can opt for higher value perks like get your name acknowledged in the comic ebook or even appear in one of the scenes!

Want to do good? You can sponsor 3 hard copies for the library of a school for the underprivileged. We will get the comic printed and couriered to the school with a covering note acknowledging your support.

There are other perks to choose from - fun stuff and social good. Visit the project page on IndieGogo, the crowd funding website, and show your support: http://bit.ly/Rclzh9

Support our Crowd-funded Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning Skills

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 of learning. He learns about the works of psychologists and neuroscientists and figures out the dispositions he needs to cultivate to become an inspired learner who yearns to learn and can make the most of the abundant learning resources available today at a click of a button.

The comic ebook will be created in English and in Hindi and will be very moderately priced so that it is within the reach of many.

We have launched a campaign to fund the comic ebook on the crowd funding website, Indiegogo. For as little as £2 you can support our project. Please click on the link below.

Please also consider sharing this message. We want to attract a crowd!

Endgame of Education?

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 entrepreneurship and in today’s world all three require the ability to create value.

To thrive in the 21^st century you need to become “Creative Creators” (a term coined by Friedman and Mandelbaum in their book ‘That Used to be Us’) and cultivate the ability to do, what Seth Godin calls, ‘remarkable’ work.

What was even more fascinating to me about the ad was a university implying that the endgame of education is employment, or what we can call ‘Learning to Earn’.

We really need to question this. Why earn, Why earn, Y-earn, till we ‘Yearn to Learn’!

One of the main objectives of a good university should be fostering a yearning to learn, all life long.

Building character, encouraging ethical behaviour, enabling and empowering a person to pursue a life of meaning and purpose - with passion and compassion and encouraging joyous living are the other raison d’etre for education. Or so I believe.