We met Manel Rives as a speaker at NEF Vigo 2024
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 4:23 am
, an event in which educational innovation was the protagonist and in which he shared his experience applying technological skills in the training field.
We found his participation particularly interesting and have proposed this interview to delve deeper into his vision of the future that awaits teaching practice.
After the introduction, you have already realized that Manel is a teacher interested in modernizing the learning process, and to do so, he has technology and creativity as allies, which he uses in his multiple training facets.
Interview with Manel Rives
How do you combine such different training jobs as being a primary kuwait city name list school teacher or a LinkedIn Learning trainer?
Well, I think it's a matter of personality. I discovered that I wanted to be a teacher almost by accident. I knew I wanted to go to university. I was the first in my family to go to university and yet I still had no idea what I wanted to be. It's strange, because now I don't see myself outside of training, it's something that has become a passion for me. I discovered it right at the first moments of my internship with students, a little over three decades ago... which is a lot to say.
Answering your question… my journey would serve as proof that to “get somewhere” (a phrase our grandmothers used a lot) the formal training course is not always the way, nor is the cognitive part (the one that the educational system works so dedicatedly on) the only important thing. As in too many occasions, more than we want to admit, luck plays an important role: obviously you have to know what you are talking about, obviously, you have to train yourself and reach a level of “expertise” as the Americans usually call it, but it is not the only variable.
But it is true that there is always a factor of “luck”, which is essential, although some people find it hard to admit, in order to develop professionally. In my case, it all started when my school allowed me to carry out an innovation project back in 2008 that literally blew up the Internet. We were the first news programme produced entirely by primary school students. That led to me being invited to an event of the Ministry of Education, which led to other opportunities and from there to third ones, etc. etc.
The most important thing was receiving a call from LinkedIn Learning, LinkedIn's training division , to start creating training courses. And since then I have published 20 courses. How do I balance this? It's very simple when you have people at LinkedIn Learning who are "genuinely good people", they make it very easy and take you into account... something that too often doesn't happen in education.
I am someone who takes the passion for creativity, soft skills or teaching-learning methodologies a little further
and when passion moves you, you always look for moments and situations to create opportunities to learn, teach or simply connect.
Photo of Manel Rives on stage at a conference
What does it bring to you to work with people at such different stages in their education and who have such different objectives?
Personally, it provides me with a great deal of learning. Mentally, it forces you to focus on the type of person you are going to work with : spending all day with 8-year-old students is not the same as doing teacher training or creating a LinkedIn Learning course with HR managers in mind. Working with LinkedIn Learning has allowed me to meet some wonderful people who are in Graz doing a commendable job, but best of all, showing how people are treated, valuing what they contribute and listening to them. That is how I feel with them. And it is priceless.
And what can I say about working with children? I simply enjoy it, and that is saying a lot these days. It is true that I live teaching in a very visceral way and I have a very personal vision of the process: I try to create situations in which I help them grow as people, to enhance their critical and creative thinking and to work in teams through projects. What an adult has to do in a medium-sized company today... you don't have to wait until they are adults to do it, you have to start from a young age to create the necessary scaffolding.
Let's talk about the application of new technologies . What should a primary school teacher change in his methodology? What innovations would be essential for a teacher?
I would need an entire book to explain it because it is a complex process that touches on many branches. The criticisms that are heard today about the methodology come from the extreme simplification that is made of the teaching-learning process.
The learning needs 100 years ago were not the same as those 50 years ago, 20 years ago, or now. And methodologically, there are teachers who find it difficult to see this need for change. Methodologically, I would say that we should not use a single method, but rather a combination of many of them depending on the situation, the students, and the objective: at certain times we can use direct exposition, but the bulk, the common part, should be based on Project-Based Learning, Challenge-Based Learning, Design Thinking, Gamification, Socratic discourse, learning based on phenomena… as you can see, there are many options and it is very important to carry out actions where the students are not the simple recipients of content.
There are those who are offended when it is said that information is on the Internet, but it is INFORMATION, not knowledge. Knowledge is not transmitted, knowledge is generated in the brains of the people we are trying to educate and it is the teacher who has to generate the learning situations for that to happen . As John Dewey said: “learning happens not from lived experiences, but from reflection on lived experiences” and perhaps we lack the time and forms of reflection.
In this context, the use of technology is not only obvious but also very necessary. But two considerations should be made: on the one hand, “everything is technology… even a pencil” and on the other hand, the same thing happens with methodology: not just any technology is valid, just as not any methodology is valid. The best technology must be used in the most dynamic way possible. Using it to replicate in the virtual world a classroom of textbooks in the analog world makes no sense at all… and we have too many examples of the latter.
Similarly, talking about innovation has become a dead letter. Everything is called innovation : from putting a textbook in a laptop to making a presentation in class. We can really talk about innovation using very little cutting-edge technology if, for example, we talk about innovation in equity, bringing the best teaching opportunities to all students regardless of their economic capacity and social situation. Or we can talk about innovation with a simple iPad performing Augmented Reality on the lives and desires of our students, or we could talk about innovation using AI to create learning situations in which we are going to assess how a student's non-verbal language, assertiveness or ability to convince is when carrying out a televised debate on a hot and important topic for them.
Technologically, I continue to bet on the development of creativity and critical thinking. And I believe that a multi-touch device accompanied by a digital pen (and at certain stages a keyboard) continues to be the best tool that we can put in their hands, as long as (and I repeat, as long as) the methodology is suitable, because if it is going to replicate the analogue mode of the traditional classroom it will not work and they will also blame the technology for it, and that is not true. Its capabilities to work with multiple languages, audiovisual development, creation of scenes in Augmented Reality, development of spheres in Virtual Reality, coding for the development of computational thinking (which is not necessarily learning to program), speaking, writing, photographing, filming... you can't ask for more.
We found his participation particularly interesting and have proposed this interview to delve deeper into his vision of the future that awaits teaching practice.
After the introduction, you have already realized that Manel is a teacher interested in modernizing the learning process, and to do so, he has technology and creativity as allies, which he uses in his multiple training facets.
Interview with Manel Rives
How do you combine such different training jobs as being a primary kuwait city name list school teacher or a LinkedIn Learning trainer?
Well, I think it's a matter of personality. I discovered that I wanted to be a teacher almost by accident. I knew I wanted to go to university. I was the first in my family to go to university and yet I still had no idea what I wanted to be. It's strange, because now I don't see myself outside of training, it's something that has become a passion for me. I discovered it right at the first moments of my internship with students, a little over three decades ago... which is a lot to say.
Answering your question… my journey would serve as proof that to “get somewhere” (a phrase our grandmothers used a lot) the formal training course is not always the way, nor is the cognitive part (the one that the educational system works so dedicatedly on) the only important thing. As in too many occasions, more than we want to admit, luck plays an important role: obviously you have to know what you are talking about, obviously, you have to train yourself and reach a level of “expertise” as the Americans usually call it, but it is not the only variable.
But it is true that there is always a factor of “luck”, which is essential, although some people find it hard to admit, in order to develop professionally. In my case, it all started when my school allowed me to carry out an innovation project back in 2008 that literally blew up the Internet. We were the first news programme produced entirely by primary school students. That led to me being invited to an event of the Ministry of Education, which led to other opportunities and from there to third ones, etc. etc.
The most important thing was receiving a call from LinkedIn Learning, LinkedIn's training division , to start creating training courses. And since then I have published 20 courses. How do I balance this? It's very simple when you have people at LinkedIn Learning who are "genuinely good people", they make it very easy and take you into account... something that too often doesn't happen in education.
I am someone who takes the passion for creativity, soft skills or teaching-learning methodologies a little further
and when passion moves you, you always look for moments and situations to create opportunities to learn, teach or simply connect.Photo of Manel Rives on stage at a conference
What does it bring to you to work with people at such different stages in their education and who have such different objectives?
Personally, it provides me with a great deal of learning. Mentally, it forces you to focus on the type of person you are going to work with : spending all day with 8-year-old students is not the same as doing teacher training or creating a LinkedIn Learning course with HR managers in mind. Working with LinkedIn Learning has allowed me to meet some wonderful people who are in Graz doing a commendable job, but best of all, showing how people are treated, valuing what they contribute and listening to them. That is how I feel with them. And it is priceless.
And what can I say about working with children? I simply enjoy it, and that is saying a lot these days. It is true that I live teaching in a very visceral way and I have a very personal vision of the process: I try to create situations in which I help them grow as people, to enhance their critical and creative thinking and to work in teams through projects. What an adult has to do in a medium-sized company today... you don't have to wait until they are adults to do it, you have to start from a young age to create the necessary scaffolding.
Let's talk about the application of new technologies . What should a primary school teacher change in his methodology? What innovations would be essential for a teacher?
I would need an entire book to explain it because it is a complex process that touches on many branches. The criticisms that are heard today about the methodology come from the extreme simplification that is made of the teaching-learning process.
The learning needs 100 years ago were not the same as those 50 years ago, 20 years ago, or now. And methodologically, there are teachers who find it difficult to see this need for change. Methodologically, I would say that we should not use a single method, but rather a combination of many of them depending on the situation, the students, and the objective: at certain times we can use direct exposition, but the bulk, the common part, should be based on Project-Based Learning, Challenge-Based Learning, Design Thinking, Gamification, Socratic discourse, learning based on phenomena… as you can see, there are many options and it is very important to carry out actions where the students are not the simple recipients of content.
There are those who are offended when it is said that information is on the Internet, but it is INFORMATION, not knowledge. Knowledge is not transmitted, knowledge is generated in the brains of the people we are trying to educate and it is the teacher who has to generate the learning situations for that to happen . As John Dewey said: “learning happens not from lived experiences, but from reflection on lived experiences” and perhaps we lack the time and forms of reflection.
In this context, the use of technology is not only obvious but also very necessary. But two considerations should be made: on the one hand, “everything is technology… even a pencil” and on the other hand, the same thing happens with methodology: not just any technology is valid, just as not any methodology is valid. The best technology must be used in the most dynamic way possible. Using it to replicate in the virtual world a classroom of textbooks in the analog world makes no sense at all… and we have too many examples of the latter.
Similarly, talking about innovation has become a dead letter. Everything is called innovation : from putting a textbook in a laptop to making a presentation in class. We can really talk about innovation using very little cutting-edge technology if, for example, we talk about innovation in equity, bringing the best teaching opportunities to all students regardless of their economic capacity and social situation. Or we can talk about innovation with a simple iPad performing Augmented Reality on the lives and desires of our students, or we could talk about innovation using AI to create learning situations in which we are going to assess how a student's non-verbal language, assertiveness or ability to convince is when carrying out a televised debate on a hot and important topic for them.
Technologically, I continue to bet on the development of creativity and critical thinking. And I believe that a multi-touch device accompanied by a digital pen (and at certain stages a keyboard) continues to be the best tool that we can put in their hands, as long as (and I repeat, as long as) the methodology is suitable, because if it is going to replicate the analogue mode of the traditional classroom it will not work and they will also blame the technology for it, and that is not true. Its capabilities to work with multiple languages, audiovisual development, creation of scenes in Augmented Reality, development of spheres in Virtual Reality, coding for the development of computational thinking (which is not necessarily learning to program), speaking, writing, photographing, filming... you can't ask for more.