Trainer Gigi Johnson, a pioneer in teaching innovation and the use of new technologies in classrooms, participated in the three-day Co-Creating Futures conference at UIC Barcelona. The conference was promoted by the UIC Barcelona Teaching Innovation Classroom, with Isabel Villanueva as director, with cooperation of the Puig Foundation, which provides resources for grants and financial aid for teaching innovation. 

During the conference, Johnson noted that “it is up to students to make their mobile phone a superpower.” This expert opted for the use of mobile phones in classrooms by turning them into “creation devices.”

Far from demonising the use of these devices, Johnson believes that “there are a lot of new applications and opportunities that can be useful in teaching.” Along this line, she emphasised that sometimes teachers don’t say “let me help you use your phone better because they don’t know how to use it themselves.”

Johnson has also defended the use of technology in the classroom because graduates “must come out of university knowing how to use technology. Companies expect them to have technological know-how. So, to think that my students aren’t going to be able to use technologies in their work and to ignore the fact is really a detriment to them.” She insisted that they cannot join the labour market “with a lack of technological skills.”

For three days, Johnson gave intensive workshops to small groups of UIC Barcelona teachers on new teaching methodologies: innovation, artificial intelligence and creativity.

The Innovation Classroom was created with the aim of responding to the interest of teachers in implementing innovation initiatives and projects in the classroom, and to promote the continuous improvement of the teaching processes for all teachers at UIC Barcelona. To this end, classroom dynamics are generated that favour teaching innovation or that promote interest in teaching innovation research.