Life is a journey

by Aurelie Salvaire

Last Thursday 22nd of January, the first TEDxBarcelona event dedicated to education took place in Torre Telefonica.

One full day of talks, performances and workshops advocating for a different approach of learning, a « sexy pedagogy » as Maria Acaso explains it in her rEDUvolution book.

Mindfulness and empathy as core values

The event already started differently with a meditation session led by Christian Tolra to ensure that everybody was present mentally as much as physically.

Many speakers then explained how the fact to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes was a game-changer inside classrooms.

For example, Nicholas Carlisle invited us to « feed our wolf of kindness and compassion » in order to eradicate the bullying epidemic – affecting an average of 30% of the students – from schools. His project, started in the US, received such great feedback that he might soon implement it in Spain as well!

Montserrat del Pozo, recently elected Ashoka Fellow, told us about the model of her high school leveraging multiple intelligence and teaching a same topic through different angles and media.

Marta Arias, director of UNICEF Spain, challenged us to imagine a country without kids, given the limited investment Spain is currently dedicating to its young generation.

The power of technology

Technology allows projects to bridge gaps, scale up fast and reach remote areas.

That is what Elizabeth Wood demonstrated through the project Worldreader, elaborating reading content for simple phones to eradicate illiteracy in emerging countries.

Or Anne-Marie Imafidon who challenges the current gender ratio in the technological field through her Stemettes initiative, informing young girls about career perspectives in science field, launching an incubator for girl-led start-ups.

 

Disruptive performances

Miquel Duran, fellow TEDx organizer from the University of Girona, made us laugh and beautifully demonstrated how magic and science can be linked in everyday education.

Alvaro Solache owned the stage, with the beatbox artist Pulmon who did a improvised slam performance, before demonstrating on the spot how catalan human castles are a perfect metaphor of collaboration and team spirit.

Interactive workshops

Outside the auditorium, the participants were also invited to actively participate in different workshops, building human castles or learning about the power of humour in science, with the Big Van Theory of Helena Gonzalez, playing Lego or testing their theater skills.

They witnessed chairs sculptures or weird phrases written in the elevator, sound recordings as far as the bathroom itself !

They all wore a colour T-shirt with a printed letter, creating an harmonious rainbow in the auditorium or playing human scrabble to build words with strangers…

Barcelona has talent

For the first time, the TEDxYou afternoon session gathered 15 local speakers from the attendees to present their own view or project on education.

We learnt about epilepsy,  gamification or superheroes. We even learnt why we had a carrot in our gift bag…

 

Learning happens everywhere and at anytime

We do not only learn in classrooms. We do not only learn before the age of 25.

All along our lifetime, life is teaching us lessons in its own way.

So, far from traditional curricula were also present the misfits, the ones who have never felt at ease with the traditional system and who wish to contribute with alternative solutions.

Ivo Degn explained in a very honest and touching way how he never found his place in the traditional education system until he found Knowmads school in Amsterdam, model which he wishes to implement now in Sevilla.

Martin Cadée told us about the importance of the rites of passage to adulthood and the need to support young people to go out there and explore before chosing their path in life

John Roberts invited the audience to start their own universities, curating the existing online content to create local community of learners.

Steve Munroe, post-cubicle survivor, advocated for a lifelong learning system in a world where we currently change career 15 to 20 times during a lifetime.

After a successful career working for the UN, he felt the need to put more life into his work and moved to Bali to start the first coworking space in Ubud for digital nomads.

His next venture Turnpoint offers immersive learning experiences for people at the turning point of their professional lives.

Kaisu Tuominiemi beautifully portrayed the power of team learning, as she implements now in the Mondragon Team Academy program in Barcelona.

A great media coverage

As the tickets were sold out for weeks in advance, the livestream option received a great success with more than 5.000 visits !

The live Tweet feed in the venue engaged attendees to be active in the social media sphere.

The event grew fast to second Trending Topic in Spain and trending topic in Barcelona for 8 consecutive hours.

Carlotta Cataldi and Lucie Baudoin (from the A Factor) visually covered the event live through amazing drawings.

At media level, Nicholas Carlisle was featured in la contra de la Vanguardia, Anne Marie Imafidon in ARA, Elizabeth Wood in El Mundo and TV3 news dedicated a full session to the event.

More information in the full media clipping here.

An amazing team

The extraordinary team of volunteers transmited its energy to the whole event.

Students and professionals who have dedicated free time for months to make this day a success.

Without them, the event would not have been feasible! So a huge thanks to all of you!!!

Check the event photos for more souvenirs! Videos coming soon!

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