Narcís Vives Ylla

Narcís Vives is developing a new education model that makes learning fun and effective while also closing the digital gap between those communities who proactively use new technologies and those who do not. In Atlas of Diversity, he has designed a simple, cheap and far reaching resource that over 4,000 teachers in 22 countries are currently using to engage their students more proactively and modernize their practices.

Narcís gives students around the world the opportunity to learn interactively and enter the information age sharing information instead of merely receiving it. His online platform, Atlas of Diversity, presents a new teaching paradigm that utilizes technological applications as tools for teachers to explore innovative educational techniques. The result is a new classroom dynamic that improves and deepens young people’s learning experience. Having identified teachers as the key to success for any educational program, Narcís equips them first with the technological know-how and local coaching they need to adopt new and more effective ways of teaching. Atlas’ online training courses make teachers facilitators of learning, empowering young people to take responsibility in their education. Narcís has carefully designed the courses to get teachers to apply their learning in the classroom from day one in order for the new methodologies to quickly reach the students. These courses also play a critical role in creating support networks among teachers, so they can continue to learn from each other and stay up-to-date on new practices long after the course has finished. Atlas is designed to be applicable to any subject, from literature to mathematics. Students work in teams researching, summarizing and uploading information to exchange and discuss their work with others around the world. By making learning a dynamic and exciting process in which students and teachers learn and build important parts of their own educational content together, Narcís is adapting education systems around the world to the new, increasingly globalized information era.

Many education systems around the world are failing. Quite often children become bored with their predominantly lecture-based methods of teaching, and adopt a passive, disengaged attitude towards education. Consequently, many young people come to dislike learning and choose to drop out of school.

Teachers are frustrated and find it increasingly difficult to motivate children. The methodologies used in schools do not perceive learning as a collective effort, but rather as a one-way transmission of information from an active teacher to a passive student. Although sharing information through networks has been essential for the growth and success of other sectors, such as business and medical research, such practice is rarely adopted in schools.

Another troubling fact is that a large number of students across the globe are not fully entering into the new information age, and thus find themselves excluded from many opportunities in an increasingly globalized world. In some parts of the world where the information and telecommunication revolution has not yet reached the classroom, digital exclusion is limiting the future opportunities of thousands of young people. To make matters worse, the gap between these countries and others that are integrating ICTs as an essential part of their education is also increasing.

Even when new training and teaching techniques have been made available, they fail to reach a large enough number of teachers to make a meaningful impact, due to costs associated with training and service delivery. Many teachers work independently, often isolated from others who struggle with similar problems and who could potentially be a source of encouragement and inspiration.

Current teaching techniques are not taking advantage of the potential new technologies offer to personalize education to each student’s level and interests. Teachers are generally computer illiterate and thus do not feel capable of serving as role models in this area. Very little, if any, computer training is offered to teachers, who find it difficult, and are seldom interested in advancing towards new ways of teaching. As a result, technology is not yet perceived as an essential educational tool. The result is that students often leave school without skills in teamwork, self-motivated research and technology use they need to successfully enter into a globally connected world.

While experimenting with different methods of teaching, Narcís discovered that new technologies could be excellent tools to teach fresh methodologies in innovative ways. Well aware that it is generally teachers who are most resistant to using new technologies in their classrooms but also most desperate to learn, his program initially offers them training in ICTs. However, his aim goes much beyond simply using computers in classes. Through Atlas of Diversity, Narcís uses technology as a learning tool for teachers to directly engage in new and much more effective practices. In order to encourage teachers to directly apply their new learning to the classroom, it is compulsory to lead at least one Atlas experience with their students. Teachers generally go beyond encouraging their students to upload resources to the Atlas site and have begun sharing their own acquired learning and best practices, creating a considerable pull of practical resources for other teaching professionals.

Atlas of Diversity consists of portraits that students themselves construct on many different subjects that have to do with their surrounding and unique circumstances. The process of creating these portraits puts kids in charge of their own learning experience, as they work in teams to choose an issue to explore and then conduct research. Instead of serving as the main source of information for kids, teachers help their students design the project and facilitate their learning experience. The final phase of the project includes uploading the portraits onto the Atlas website and sharing the results with a global network of schools. The extra motivation factor—of performing for students from around the world—brings out new inspiration in children to give the project their all. Narcís uses this research process to practically introduce a completely new teaching dynamic into the classroom in which students to take a more central role.

In order to expand the reach of his program, Narcís works with partners in 22 countries through an International Education and Research Network (iEARN) which he co-founded 16 years ago. By growing his iEARN network to include new partners, Narcís has already trained a critical mass of teachers in new technologies applied to education. The free online courses, endorsed by a prestigious diploma from the University of Barcelona, are coordinated by previously trained local tutors who establish work groups that bring teachers together into networks that last long after they have finished the course.

Since many teachers who are anxious to participate fully in the program teach in schools without access to computers and internet connections, Narcís has negotiated a key partnership with the organization Computer Aid, that provides free refurbished computers to schools in developing countries. This way he assures that no interested school is left out of the experience.

Narcís convinced the European Union to fund his three year pilot, and in their evaluation of the program, Atlas was named the best of the 19 programs the EU had supported. This recognition has allowed Narcís to quickly spread his idea globally, now reaching 22 countries and functional in three languages. Narcís involves new teachers through partnerships with pre-established educational networks and uses a small core team to organize training and develop initial technology. Experienced users become coaches to local communities that teach others how to use Atlas and also suggest innovations. The dynamic structure allows powerful economies of scale.

In the future, Narcís plans to expand Atlas to new countries and incorporate new languages and trainings. He is also creating new platforms to complement the main Atlas with innovative applications specific to topics that have proven to be of interest to many participants in the current program, including the environmental themes or the atlas of entrepreneurial ventures.

After working in his father’s bakery business, Narcís discovered his true passion for education while participating in weekend youth retreats. Convinced that he was called to teach, he left a secure financial future, accepted an 80 percent pay cut, and began working in progressive project schools.

While he was there, Narcís encountered a culture of uninspired and unmotivated professionals, and he chose to combat it by working hard to make the educational experience interesting and useful for both teachers and students. During one of his first jobs, he took on the special challenge of integrating children affected by hemophilia, and in the process, he began thinking of alternative activities to keep his students away from sports and other physical activities. There he discovered that with the help of a computer and a modem, he could attract kids to educational activities that were fun and also connected them with other schools. This experience marked the beginning of Narcís’ interest in networks and incorporating key aspects of ICTs into education not only as an important skill to learn, but as an ideal element for inspiring students to discover new worlds of knowledge on their own.

In 1991, Narcís was invited to a forum for education and technology in Boston where he connected with other international groups facing similar challenges, and it was then when he decided to co-found iEARN. Using this organization as a base, he began to coordinate programs all around the world, connecting educational institutions with similar interests towards common objectives. One project that resulted from this was the launch of Clowns without Frontiers, in which Narcís developed new technological tools for educational purposes.

With time, as Narcís’ expertise increased combined with his life-long desire to inspire and motivate teachers and students, he began to think strategically on a large scale. Using the networks he had created, he initiated experiments with the principles his idea was based on, and readjusted the resulting applications to build a working model. His intent was for the network to not only be a good entry way to the new information age, but also a useful and solid platform with which students could learn from and use to navigate through this global, interconnected world.

His lifelong goal is to involve teachers and students in this new conception of information, knowledge and technology by making learning a fun, exciting and interactive experience.