Miquel Àngel Prats: "We are missing a great opportunity to educate"

We have recently seen how the ban on the use of cell phones on school premises has been introduced. What do you think prompted this move?

We have a governance problem when it comes to digital devices, both at home and at school. We adults are not a good example, in terms of the use of our phones in everyday life. And so, since we don't know how to let them go, and since we don't know how to handle it, the solution is to ban them. And this is a very easy position to take.

I think that what we need, above all, is education and a great deal of support to families, faculty and, most importantly, students.

So who is responsible for this task of educating?

I would say that it does not just come down to the school, but rather it is a systemic issue. By this I mean that our boys and girls (adolescents, children) must see this education and this exemplarity both at home and at school.

Therefore, the school, on the one hand, must instruct and teach good uses and, consequently, the way in which to use these tools for proper, academic enjoyment.

On the other hand, certain rules and regulations must be established at home: some kind of leadership is needed. In other words, it is a 360-degree issue: both families and educators have a responsibility.

In several articles you have been in favor of the use of technology in the classroom. Why?

For all the advantages that digital technologies bring to learning. While there are no studies that confirm that students learn more and better, nor are there any studies that can claim that they learn less. In this sense, we should probably start looking for those technologies that help the most with specific content and, therefore, look for moments in which technologies can be really powerful, especially because they are very exemplary of a specific concept. As such, we are always in favor of using technologies, but not of being, but not of being hooked on our cell phones, tablets, or computers. We must find the appropriate and opportune moments.

The second reason is that we also believe that in a world like ours, which is becoming increasingly digitalized, we require training, support, and education in the area of media literacy. In other words, critical thinking. Our students must know how to contrast the information they see and be able to verify it. They need to know whether what they consume through media is really true or not. And even more so at a time when artificial intelligence has exploded so spectacularly. Therefore, we must give them the tools to know if what they are reading, what they are consuming in the media, is true or not.

Third, there is also a question of judgment. Ultimately, we often say that a person is digitally competent, not so much because he or she has knowledge or has skills, abilities and shows aptitudes, but also because he or she knows how to disconnect and is able to do so. Disconnecting digitally and connecting personally. We can say that a digitally competent person is someone who is also able to say "no" to connecting with other people.

What could be an example of a good use of technology in the classroom?

A clear example is contrasting the news that comes out day by day in the world of information and communication; knowing precisely and to what extent what we are reading is true (the data that comes out, etc.).

Another clear and very interesting example in this sense is to know the logic on which many of these technologies are based. Everything that would be working on computational thinking in robotics, knowing how to program a device, knowing how to create an application and, therefore, knowing the basics of algorithms and knowing a little about how a digital device works, are also very interesting when it comes to entering into this digital ecosystem. Mostly to demystify some of the magic behind these digital devices.

Some school principals believe this measure will cause the opposite effect, while others believe it will increase face-to-face interactions between students. What do you think?

It all depends to some extent on the strategic plan we have when it comes to using digital technologies. If we are able to find the most appropriate times to use the technologies, we will put some sort of measures in place. I think it all depends on the balance with which we are able to use these devices in the right way. And also whether we are capable, as adults, of exemplary behavior towards our children and adolescents. I believe this is the best tool.

We need to be aware of what they consume, to be able to speak their own language. It pains me to say, but very often parents are unaware of the media ecosystem, the content creators that are currently moving on some platforms, such as Twitch or YouTube. This is a problem. They should take an interest because it is what their children are consuming. So it's up to everyone.

You were one of the participants in the Bofill Foundation's project to drive the digital transformation of schools, which talks about hybrid learning. What does this model consist of?

With the Bofill Foundation we were working mainly during the pandemic and post-pandemic. Among other things, because we were talking about hybrid education due to the whole context experienced with digital education. And we were very sorry because, precisely, what we experienced was emergency online education. In other words, it was not hybrid education as such.

When we talk about hybrid education, it is above all the capacity and possibility of making space and time more flexible by using digital technologies. Therefore, a hybrid model is one that is able to conceive a space and a time with the use of digital technologies, in a completely different way. I will give an example: imagine you come to class and suddenly you have a lecture with an external teacher. So for fifty minutes you are listening to a lecture from an external teacher, but at the same time you are in class, and then the rest of the hour that is left, there can be a little discussion with your class about the lecture that has taken place with that external teacher. And imagine that this external teacher is holding that lecture for three or four schools at the same time.

Of course, this is a very different concept from understanding the flexibility of space and time. Are you in class? Yes, but you are listening to an outside teacher. And then you will use the time of the seminar to discuss with your classmates what you have heard from a teacher, in this case, a foreign one.

It is the use of technologies to make better use of the face-to-face space as well. And so, in what way do you transit between virtuality and presenteeism? Finding the balance, in this case, between digital spaces and face-to-face spaces. Above all, to also revitalize being present and give it meaning again.

Some school principals who have already implemented these measures claim that they have obtained a positive result, that they have detected less use of phones. Do you think it's a true positive result or have the students learned to hide their phones from those in charge?

First of all, since we haven't done any serious work on this whole issue with cell phones, we haven't been able to explain exactly how to get the best experiences from the use of mobile devices in the classroom.

Secondly, there should be a gradient. Is it necessary for first- and second-graders to use cell phones? Maybe not. Perhaps what is necessary is that they first use a tablet so that we can educate them later in the use of other types of digital devices.

In the future they will have the possibility of owning a cell phone, but first let's educate them in the use of other tools. Therefore, the use of all these digital things should be organized, somewhat structured around this.

I think that starting to give out devices without any kind of order or judgment is a problem. We have perhaps not been able to properly explain all of this and have immediately started to give out digital devices without any kind of criteria.

And I am sorry about that, because deep down we are also missing an opportunity to educate children in this sense and around these issues. As I said, the ban does not help us at all. Therefore, as self-criticism, I would say that next time we should know how to better explain what digital device is necessary at each age and which content and procedures to work on at each of these ages, so that when they do have a device or a smart terminal, they have the necessary knowledge to use it.

In the future, what do you think it could mean for this generation that has not learned to have a critical vision toward technology?

That they are lost and, probably, that they do not know how to discern information, that they feel more deceived when reading, that they lack judgment, or that they lack this type of digital competence, not only in terms of knowledge but also in terms of procedures and attitudes.

So we have a serious problem. In other words, if we don't do it at school, it won't be done at home either. And if it's not done at home, I wonder where you learn this. So, here we are missing a great opportunity to educate, to train and, above all, to support. We will see how all this plays out, among other things because, while in some countries we are considering banning cell phones, at the same time there is another type of technology, such as artificial intelligence, which is knocking on the door. And it's knocking loudly.