Are there any questions?
About the morning contents? José Luis Pascual is still here.
I've been meaning to ask you a question of my own.
Right.
So speak now, or...
...you can write him later.
You can write him, of course but he's here now, so...
Well…
I haven't...
I haven't been in the room for two of the presentations.
I will try to access the files later.
For those two presentations. To close this session I'd like to...
I've been taking down some quotations.
One by Mariló, our colleague.
The first…
-How do you say quotation in Spanish? -Cita.
Sorry. Her first quotation... I managed to get only half.
One by Friedman, the columnist from The New York Times.
“Nothing has more potential to lift more people out of poverty”.
Talking about MOOCs.
I think this has to do with intellectual poverty.
For me, that's the most important part of the whole presentation.
The great opportunity. The turning point.
Going back to what José Luis said.
We're facing a turning point.
Those of us born in the 70s we've seen many turning points.
I think this one's the greatest.
From recording songs on tape from the radio.
Hoping the presenter didn't interrupt.
To the CD. And the huge turning point.
From José Luis' presentation I will quote Benedetti.
“When we thought we had all the answers suddenly they changed the questions”.
It really does happen whenever we have a seminar.
We leave with more questions than answers.
And that's fundamental.
That's how we move forward. Asking and answering questions.
And when we find one answer we have ten more questions.
That's how it's done. I don't know if you agree.
Any other comment on this issue?
About these quotations?
I still don't know if Friedman's...
...was referring to MOOCs.
As a tool to lift people from poverty.
Or if it was motivation.
-Because the slide said... -Right.
The slide said "Motivation…"
"...the most powerful, etc." And they were mentioning MOOCs.
I'm a bit like Pascual here. I've enrolled in many.
I'm a big fan of MOOCs but I'm also very critical.
I gather people are saying...
...in the academic environment of American universities.
It's beginning to conclude that MOOCs...
...they're not a turning point.
-Or democratising in any way. -No. On this point...
...I agree with Pascual. This benefits only an elite.
And the few who finish they're even more elitist.
This is no turning point.
It's simply another tool.
And we start to see that it's not going to be applied...
...to academic courses as much as to lifelong learning.
And it will probably be most useful for companies and their employees.
Not so much students.
They say that 80% are graduates.
Up to 95% in the US are graduates.
And it's them who acknowledge...
...these people are extremely motivated and prepared to work on their own.
-Hence my doubt about motivation… -It was referring to motivation.
A reference to motivation.
What Stanford endeavour is simply to gobble up competitors.
Princeton, Harvard… MIT. Their purpose isn't any different.
It's not making education democratic but being second to none.
-This is their sole purpose. -And those certificates...
MIT have started to record everything.
But these classes are so specialised...
...that you need specialised knowledge to be able to follow them.
Apart from those afternoons away from your children or relatives.
You really need to keep revising. You become a nerd.
Otherwise they get the better of you.
When they say "eight hours" They lie through their teeth.
-It's two or three times that. -Really?
-We're talking about... -They suggest eight hours a week.
Only for one subject.
So the certificate is well deserved.
And if you want the piece of paper you have to pay for it.
-That's what one of the speakers said. -And...
The question is... Where's the student in the end?
It's a different kind of education. But I also enrol.
I've always hated phones and now they impose the use of fora.
For me they're like phones.
Having to connect, to talk to participate... assessment.
"Very interesting contributions but as you haven't participated..."
"You get a two-point penalty”.
-I think that's the turning point. -The turning point...
-We say... right. -That's the generation gap.
But they're leaving me out.
When I say me, it could be anyone.
The type of student who feels…
If it democratises where are the students' profiles?
-These are interesting questions. -Some questions.
I'm asking myself these questions. Shy students.
-Against participative students... -I see.
More questions. What happens with student profiles?
Right?
That's a good question. I'm afraid I have no answer.
My question for José Luis is...
Are there any job prospects for the future?
What about the functions of the language industry?
For our students. I wonder about our students' futures.
What tasks do you think they should...? What skills are needed?
What aptitudes to develop?
Wow, what a question!
-The future is in front of us... -In publishing, I mean.
-Yes... -The world of publishing.
That's it. The world of publishing.
We have to consider first whether that world has any future.
-Another interesting question... -Or what future that will be.
-It's difficult to say.
Publishers will still exist.
There will be some business, but...
I believe, and this is my belief. I'm no Nostradamus.
That it's bound to shrink.
The book industry will shrink.
Turnover will decline. There will be fewer members of staff.
Fewer people working for it and such.
The world of contents won't shrink.
The thing is that you're paid less.
It has lost value. Contents and content creation.
As they're more easily available...
...they aren't seen as valuable.
Well... that's one issue.
To be discussed.
Language students philologists and so on.
People with degrees in these subjects.
There are still jobs for them in the world of publishing.
Those of us who work in publishing we come from those fields.
I'm a philosopher, not a philologist.
But I studied philosophy of language.
And chasing Chomsky I find myself where I am today.
But...
There's work here for all of you. In books for education.
It doesn't have the same...
...aura of interest, charm, or appeal...
...as literary or non-fiction.
It's tougher, harsher and far more boring.
But that's the place where the editor has more freedom.
It's a freer world where we make important choices.
Choices that affect people's lives.
Education will change the world has changed it, and we'll stay.
As the late Mandela said...
The token of his identity. “Education will change the world”.
He did all he could to change his country with education.
Therefore, an editor of a textbook...
...selects a methodology.
They choose the authors.
Different types of activity.
The way to organise the content.
They meet the authors all the time.
A fantastic job in this sense.
And later you see that in the classroom.
Students' reactions.
It's all really impressive.
You develop new technologies. New methodologies.
I encourage you to try. I don't know if we'll still be there...
...when you decide to take the leap.
It's an important line of work. A publisher is an educator.
They need knowledge in this field.
In Linguistics. How language works.
And a sensible pedagogical approach.
That's all.
For what it's worth…
There's much more to say. It's time for the lunch break.
-Have I answered your question? -I think so.
One last comment, Pascual.
Yes, touching upon what José Luis has said.
Concerns about students who finish...
...it's not job prospects. They'll find a job sooner or later.
The problem is the syllabus.
We're teaching exactly the same as 30 years ago.
There's a complete lack of synchrony between the syllabus...
...and the workplace.
Unbelievably so.
We aren't preparing anybody for the labour market. Nobody.
Not one.
Then, either we change now... Now we're in the competences phase.
Either we change the competences.
Or the skills students' require to take the leap.
As José Luis was saying a while ago.
-Or someone else will do it for us. -University as such...
...will eventually crumble.
-Isn't knowledge out there? -Exactly.
-Knowledge is out there. -Exactly.
I'd rather do a vindication of Arts and Humanities.
We need to be critical with ourselves.
We need to adapt the syllabus.
Not to our department's necessity and convenience.
Nor our faculty's, nor our university's. To what's out there.
There's a total lack of synchrony.
-If we had less management tasks... -Yes.
I'm not talking about this Master's.
This is probably a way to bridge the gap.
When you have the subject ready reality has changed.
Syllabuses. I'm thinking now about the Faculty of Law...
...Politics and Sociology.
The Faculty of Law, they still suffer from the same paralysis.
The same for 60 years.
Legislation hasn't changed.
It's about learning laws by heart.
There's no other way to be a lawyer.
It's a matter of memorising.
Relating one thing to another writing commentaries…
But all the rest, with the internet and access to legal databases...
...you can search for a law or regulation in the blink of an eye.
In the time it takes to get a beer it pops up on your computer screen.
And then you print it. Simple. No need to memorise it.
You must know how to use it. In the right context.
But that's a skill. It can be learnt.
It's a skill.
-It's resources... -Skills.
Resources rather than content. The content's right there.
-No need to focus on content. -Content and nothing else.
I think it's outrageous for you to say that university...
...must prepare people for the market.
You couldn't be more wrong. When you prepare students...
...for the labour market it's only for a while.
It's two, three, four or perhaps five years.
And then what? If their company shuts down...
...you're failing that person. They can only turn screws clockwise.
Doing it anti-clockwise requires a different degree.
-Excuse me, but it's not like that. -It's not what I said.
Excuse me, but... I'm going to give you one example.
I'm a teacher at Polytechnic University in Madrid.
I was responsible for the Erasmus programme.
I remember one of our students at the very beginning of Erasmus.
When it started to catch on.
One of our students went to Germany. He spoke German.
When he came back he told me it was a mind-boggling experience.
They told him: "This is work experience" It was a practical Erasmus.
They told him: "They are giving you the finished code up to this point".
"You start here, do your work and then pass it on to your boss”.
He was as white as a sheet and when he came back he told me...
"Look, they prepare us so thoroughly in the theoretical part"
"Two days later I could follow".
If you teach somebody to do something very specific...
...once the conditions are altered...
...they can no longer do it.
University is not in my modest opinion...
...the place to learn one single thing.
-That's valid for a single company. -It's not what I said.
Wasn't it? What I understood was...
If you don't mind, we should...
...conclude the morning session. I also understood that.
I didn't mean to interrupt you. I also understood…
A different thing.
We misinterpreted it. We didn't get the message.
It's about teaching them to adapt to their circumstances.
Learning how to adapt to whatever comes their way.
Learning how to learn.