Translator: Laura del Aguila Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
(Performance mode)
I said silence!
I'll be with you in a second.
I am finishing a very important experiment for my research
and besides, I already gave you the notes yesterday.
You have had photocopies of them for years and even so, you can't learn the subject.
I would be satisfied if at least 20% of you passed the year.
(Music)
But what are you doing?
Yes, you, in the second row!
Put down your phone right now, for God's sake!
Ladies, stop chatting!
How much do you think a teacher's minute is worth?
Do you think it's free?
(Performance mode ends) (Music ends)
We all recognize the scene, right?
(Laughter)
Well, in a world like this I would like you to come with me on a trip,
because would a teacher get a million Youtube hits in this way?
Or at universities with such a history of tradition,
that turn their backs on innovation and new technologies;
can you innovate?
My challenge here today is to show you that yes, this is possible.
So, let's go, let's start our trip.
Close your eyes for a few seconds if you like
and listen to my voice.
Think of Chariots of Fire with no music,
or imagine Frodo,
would he be able to get rid of the ring without Sam next to him?
Even easier: remember last year's TEDx, with no one in the seats?
Impossible, right?
Of course it is.
Our minds play tricks on us
because we remember the hero, the protagonist,
but there are other silent protagonists who,
because they're obvious, go unnoticed by us.
So, going back to today's challenge, at a university like the one you know,
like the one we imagine,
what are the ingredients for innovation?
You will think that it's not the same for music
as it is for art history, or for mathematics or physics.
Well, yes and no.
There are common elements that are constant
throughout the innovation process,
and those are the ones I want to talk about today.
The first, the well-known academic freedom,
that invisibility cape
that many of my colleagues have put on in order to spend years doing the same.
Let's take that cape and use it to our advantage.
Secondly, someone who wants to change, who is motivated,
that dreamer, that misfit who wants to learn new methods
and who can use technology.
And those crazy people, believe me, they exist; you have one right here.
But they have to be capable of living in a hostile environment,
they must be disruptive.
Besides, they usually carry a load of wild social responsibility,
they feel indebted to society
and they want to give back their knowledge to society,
because that's who it belongs to.
Believe me, I think that no one is more ignorant
than those who keep knowledge for themselves.
And thirdly, the methods and technologies -
and people here know the same or more about this than me -
collaborative learning, project-based learning,
gamification, internet, devices, social networks, etc
But this is around the corner, in libraries, at the click of a button.
So, what are we missing?
We have everything. Let's check, let's see ...
Firstly, freedom.
Secondly, a motivated person.
Thirdly, methods and techniques.
That's it, right?
Well no, no it isn't, you fell for it again.
We're missing Vangelis in Chariots of Fire,
we're missing Sam, we're missing the TEDx audience.
To innovate at university, in education,
we need some ingredients that are so obvious we forget about them:
students.
Students are the permanent ingredient in our education.
And also, I have to say that we must overcome many fears with them,
among others, the fear of ridicule.
Here you see them, performing in class.
The classroom has become a large cell,
and each student is a piece that moves in a very specific way.
I can assure you what they learnt that day, they still haven't forgotten.
They also have to overcome the fear of sharing what they learn
with their classmates.
They have to believe that they produce valuable knowledge.
Some fall so in love with what they study,
what they learn, and why they study it.
And those are the people who close
the educational circle with capital letters.
They literally took me out on the street a few years ago
to stand up for education as a social pillar.
It was a wonderful experience,
because apart from the students and despite the icy cold,
the people who walked by would stop and ask us,
and I could explain why it's important to vaccinate our children, for example.
These brave people make you move
and forget about that figure of a know-it-all teacher.
But it's not easy.
There are many unwilling to participate in this process,
and they prefer note-taking and giving lectures.
Let's not blame them.
Studying like that is far more comfortable, although less effective.
But for each subject there are a few pioneers who throw you in.
I have been in education since I was 18.
At first, as a scout leader,
and now I've been 20 years at different universities,
and these pioneer students have always existed,
even though I couldn't see them.
So, with them, I remember some of their names,
but many have already taken part in my madness
and here you see them at a pub in the center of Valladolid,
explaining to people what our defenses mean
and what happens if we get an allergy.
As you can see, in a very relaxed environment, with some beers.
So yes, friends, the most important ingredient
or the most powerful one, is students.
I have been doing this for years, I have worked with hundreds,
and we are building, thanks to them, a very valuable project.
What did I start with?
With the simplest thing: some notes.
Seeing as students take notes, value them.
Let's take notes together, correct each others
and each year we'll have better notes.
Well, that's one of the first elements.
But then, suddenly, an extremely clever kid came by
and he helped me create
animations of our defense tissues
and he helped me create three-dimensional animations
of very complex laboratory techniques
that are used today as a reference for learning on Youtube.
In technology, they are ahead of me.
Why should we ban it in the classroom?
Let's use it to our advantage.
We're on Pinterest, on Youtube, on Twitter.
We create, with immunology students from all over the world,
an on-line journal.
They are glad to participate.
And besides, this project has attained
national and international recognition and awards.
I show it everywhere I can, to see whether it can start new ideas,
but I don't forget to go back to the streets every year, with people,
and show defenses with beer.
We prepare very didactic, but rigorous, material.
The students themselves help me.
And someone dresses up as a deadly bacteria
to hijack a walled body, as you can see.
Others, in the form of a newscast, tell us about an infection
as if it were a catastrophe.
The star product of this collection are the so-called "immunopills."
They are mini teaching videos, of around 5 minutes,
of very high quality, the only ones in Spanish.
They have been translated into French and English
and they have been played over 1,200,000 times.
This collection is called "Immunomedia."
It started being successful in the Spanish-speaking world,
but today it has reached every corner of the planet
and has helped over 250,000 students study in 100 countries.
You can imagine that for me, to manage this project,
is a responsibility that makes me proud.
I started completely by myself.
Teachers started helping me, universities, technical specialists,
and above all, students.
I have been on an unforgettable path with them.
I have learned that a teacher who knows everything doesn't exist,
it's not a monolith you need to hide under.
So, when they asked me to come here today,
I undoubtedly asked them:
Boys, girls, what do you think? Do I have something important to say at TEDx?
And they replied, unanimously:
Yes, Alfredo, we are with you on the red dot.
So here they are, more than ever, even if you don't see them.
You see them, right?
They have accompanied me in this process.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Laughter)
They have accompanied me in this process and have made me enter the arena
and discover that I must be the guide to their learning.
This had led me to overcome my own fears.
I had to overcome the fear of ridicule
and the fear of having people around me give their opinions.
(Music) (Performance mode)
See you soon, my future doctors!
My work here is done.
Here, in this faculty's hall, it's time to part ways.
(End performance mode)
So yes ...
(Music ends)
(Applause)
You can innovate against the current.
If you feel the same, I invite you to take that leap.
You will feel an awful sense of vertigo and fear,
but the jump will be worth it.
Identify those hidden ingredients that are around you
and that will help you.
The worst that can happen is that you reinvent yourselves.
And to my teacher colleagues,
to all those universities that are resisting:
I ask you to join learning with capital letters.
You know the ingredients,
the methodology is available,
and the silent accomplices are there, waiting for you.
Yes. Now. You have no excuse.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)