The Provincial Director of Education, Elena Fernández Treviño, has highlighted the imminent inauguration of the ‘Aula del Futuro’ in Melilla, a pioneering educational space that will open its doors next Tuesday, May 20, at the former Pablo Montesinos School, next to the Miguel Marmolejo Art School.
The inauguration, which will take place at 4:00 p.m., will be attended by the Secretary of State for Education, Abelardo de la Rosa, the Government Delegate, Sabrina Moh, and the Director of the National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training (INTEF), Julio Albalad, as well as teaching teams and representatives of the educational community.
In an interview given to Onda Cero, Fernández Treviño highlighted that thanks to this resource “Melilla joins that innovation, that future of technologies and the incorporation of artificial intelligence in the classrooms”. “This classroom comes to stay and to grow,” he said.
For her part, the Head of the Educational Programs Unit (UPE), María Victoria Menchacatorre, explained that the ‘Classroom of the Future’ will allow “to put into practice methodologies completely different from those we are used to in classrooms or in ordinary classes”.
“The figure of the teacher in this case is not so much a transmitter of knowledge, but someone who guides and orients the students in a teaching and learning process much more autonomous and competential, more in line with what the LOMLOE currently requires of us,” he explained.
Pointer resource
This space is conceived as a modular, multidisciplinary and collaborative environment, with differentiated areas for exploration, creation, presentation, research and development of projects. Equipped with cutting-edge technology such as 3D printers, robotics, interactive screens and flexible furniture, it has been possible thanks to the collaboration with companies such as Vodafone and Samsung.
Fernández Treviño stressed that the classroom “is multidimensional and multitasking, with an open coworking area, cutting-edge technology and specific areas linked to the most advanced pedagogy”. In addition, he has announced that “the idea is to expand it in the coming months.”
This resource will be open to the entire educational community and can also be used by other entities and companies interested in developing innovation projects. “We want it to be known in the city and also used by companies that can bring innovative ideas,” he said.
Closing Digital Teacher Training Days
On the other hand, the Provincial Director of Education has recalled that during the morning of the same Tuesday, May 20, the Digital Teacher Competition Days will be held at the IES Virgen de la Victoria, which will mark the closing of a stage of deep technological transformation in the educational centers of the city.
Fernández Treviño explained that this meeting will serve to close a four-year cycle of investment, in which the Ministry of Education has allocated around 70,000 euros to teacher training and several million euros to technological endowments, including computers, tablets, digital screens and the installation of ATECA classrooms in all secondary schools.
“The COVID pandemic had a lot to do with this technological revolution”, he acknowledged, although he said that “that technological and training endowment has come to stay”, along with the 300 most incorporated teachers during that period.
Finally, he assured that “it is fortunate for Melilla to have had the commitment of the Government through this endowment over the last four years”.