Marvin Hall’s transformed his personal challenges with education into shaping the next generation of Caribbean geniuses through the region’s first advanced educational robotics programme.

His Halls of Learning now has workshops in 12 schools across Kingston, student teams that travel to international programming competitions and inner city workshops offering the latest techniques in mathematics and computer programming — for free.

In their brightly painted Kingston offices surrounded by walls lined top to bottom with lego-filled shelves, Hall discusses how he transformed a fleeting fantasy into a lifelong commitment to learning.

“Halls of Learning basically manifested itself in 2000. I was at a Marcus Garvey symposium. Garvey was a man who was obsessed with knowledge and I thought if Marcus was a man of learning I want to create the hall of learning.”

On completing first degree studies at UWI in Mathematics and Computer Science Hall returned to Campion as a mathematics teacher. There he fell in love with teaching, although a side gig in IT also kept him firmly engaged with computer technology.

“At UWI the thing I was most interested in was the internet,” he said. “Back then there was one computer you could send email from, and there was no internet course/ web design course at that time. My first job when I left University, was at an IT company called Transfer Data that wanted an internet version of their products to demonstrate on the web.”

As summer came to a close, Hall made arrangements to teach at his old school Campion, but his part time summer job approached him with an offer.

“They kept me on in the evenings once school started so for that entire year I worked two jobs. I had this IT life and then fell in love with teaching math — the chaos, the energy — I loved it. It was nostalgic because I went to Campion, but watching kids get excited about music, culture and slang that experience gave me this desire to develop educational software for Jamaica that integrated these things.”

At Campion, like at UWI, Hall was present for the first introduction of computer technology on a large scale,

“Campion kept the lab under lock and key, if you weren’t part of a computer club or with a teacher you couldn’t access. So I went and bought the software myself and brought my class into the lab. The kids were so excited.”

It was then Hall knew he wanted to create software, intergrating cutting edge technology with local culture to be easily interpreted by students.

Hall developed his skills as an educator on the advice of his lifelong mentor, Allan Lewis. “When I wanted to teach at Campion he was the one who taught me there is an art to teaching.”

A Diploma in teaching at UWI, led to a Masters at the University of Twente in the Netherlands in Educational and Training Systems — a remote school noted for it’s exceptional programming. There, Hall found a key catalyst in shaping his future, using desktop virtual reality to build teaching plans and develop innovations in mathematics.

Back in Jamaica after a brief stint at UWI as a lecturer, Hall taught at Camperdown High School. There he became more convinced that the quality of IT education was not in keeping with students’ capabilities.

“In a computer lab in the break time, I would watch kids playing video games; modifying the games to maximise life and power, using Power Point to make flyers for parties because there was no photoshop on the machines. The school was offering computer literacy but in basic programs like Word and spreadsheets. And so seeing the desire from these kids that they would do something else — imagine what they could do if they could learn more then — because they were all doing it anyway in their spare time.”

Hall had become a close follower of global developments in mathematics, with keen interest in Singapore — producer of the top rated students in the science at the time. As the historical similarity between that island and Jamaica was often studied for economic reasons, Hall was keen to study the educational systems across both countries.

“I came across MIT’s Lifelong Learning Kindergarten, LLK, part of The Media Lab, and they were doing Lego Mindstorms. They had invented the educational robotic space as it was at the time. LLK headed up by Professor Mitch Resnick, had created this thing called the Computer Clubhouse concept, an after school facility where kids could do computer based learning technology.”

This knowledge was the next push Hall needed to move Halls of Learning forward. In between teaching stints and workshops at the American International School of Kingston, Hall tested varying curricula before the break came with Lego, from an introduction made by none other than Resnick from MIT.

“So I go to Singapore for a math conference and enquiring about software products one of the guys I reached out to was in the Ministry of Education. I met him there at the building, that basically looked like I was in the lobby of Goldman Sachs, and he invites me to return for Singapore’s celebration of the successful implementation of their sseven year plan and Mitch is one of the keynote speakers!”

At this stage Hall had been sending one email per month to Resnick for almost a year, enquiring as to how he could bring their learning revolution to Jamaica but so far getting nowhere.

“But this is now two plane tickets! And I am earning $25,000 a month from Camperdown. So I had to start writing letters. I’ve gotten so many no’s, but Errol Miller from Cable & Wireless and JMMB gave me some help, and I found the Ministry had owed me some back pay for my qualifications. So one month I got a paycheck of $85,000 and booked the ticket!

“This was a big conference where Governments are being invited, and here I was, Marvin no-name. But I said this is my chance, and I told Allan [Lewis] I’m going to corner Resnick there. Allan said look these people are very busy, email him and schedule something proper.”

In a film-worthy tale of accidents and chance encounters, Hall boarded his flight, contracted pink eye, emailed Resnick —no reply received— then “stalked” and cornered him in the lobby mid-conference “although I thought he could spot me as the only black man in the place” rolling the dice and creating what proved to be the most fortuitous meeting of his journey.

“I told him I’m on a mission to bring robotics to Jamaica. He said I am going to meet with some people from Lego tomorrow, come at 8:00 AM, and he introduces me to Lim Cheng Pier, the business manager of Lego in Asia.”

Hall spent first the morning, then a few more days with the team and the rest became history.

Through the Asia office he met all the top brass at Lego and secured what grew into a permanent endorsement for a Jamaican team to participate in the First Lego League robotics competition.

“I officially started Halls of Learning in 2003. 2004 was the first workshop; the summer of 2004 the first summer camp, with a digital music workshop Riddim, and then a robotics workshop Lego Yuh Mind. I lost my shirt, but did it even bigger next year. And lost my shirt even bigger.

“At the time when you said the word robot, people just did not understand. I realised I was focusing on the wrong age group, 14 and over. In the first year, I had to shut down week three of the workshop because no-one signed up. In week four I brought in two 10-year olds and they whooped the 16 year olds.

“That set of 10 year old twins that came to that first workshop, ended up at MIT, and their first ever robotic workshop was done right here in Kingston”

The results Hall has seen from his work have been much lauded locally, and he has seen a symbiotic relationship between what he has given and the successful rise of his team.

“In the first year I gave eight scholarships to kids to come. My employee number one, was 17 then as an assistant instructor. My employee number three was one of the kids that got a scholarship to summer camp, a Scotia-sponsored Jones Town camp.

“Back then I knew that what was made possible for [those kids] would change their lives in some small way. And if I lost one million dollars I can recover from it, earn and work again, to pay it off.. But if I don’t do this thing, their future becomes negative on a path they can never recover from. But if I do this its a path that I can recover from — so that was my comfort.”

Hall’s unconventional path as an educator is rooted in an instinct toward equally unconventional methodologies that have proven to be ahead of their time.

Hall outlines the ultimate vision for Halls of Learning after a rapid rise to slow his progress and further hone their strategy.

“I want to make an impact in Jamaica first then branch out. I want to expand beyond Lego, get into publishing and develop content that can be used outside of Jamaica. The lego robotics is just the start, the hands on learning experience is the broader part of the philosophy. My goal is not to become the biggest Lego distributor or education partner, those things are a starting point, the skill set we have and the vision we have is beyond that.

“Apple, Microsoft, Disney — those big companies started somewhere. But I don’t count us any less, we may have less resources, and less of a market, and less of a talent pool but we don’t know where we can end up. The vision is for us to be an influential force in education fullstop.

“What I’ve learned is that Halls of Learning has not grown without taking baby steps and there is no Halls of Learning without a team that’s dedicated, loyal and committed and understanding the vision. That’s one of the key things. Where I might provide the initial stimulus this is what comes together to push everything else forward.”