Training for Transformation. Authors: Adolfo Castilla and José María González del Álamo
Continuing with the task of summarizing the important work that the company Innovation Wars/CiBUC does for various clients, in this post we address a recent one done for a leading private university in Madrid. It is a first class university in every way, for which working has been a unique experience in terms of Intelligence [Artificial] Collective (I[A]C). It has been because they themselves form an intelligent collective of the first magnitude. And also because they have an innovative culture full of great contributions. One of the most important and recent is the claim, “Forming to Transform”, which in itself contains a far-reaching revolution in university education. At the beginning, brief references are made to the current Great Transformation and to the Innovation Wars/CiBUC company and its methodology.
Global transformation
If we are not mistaken, the world is moving rapidly towards a New Great Transformation. We draw our inspiration for this designation from the work of Karl Polanyi (1886-1964), The Great Transformation. A critique of economic liberalism, first published in 1944, with a complete Spanish version in 1989, almost 50 years later. A remarkable work that, although influenced by the spirit of the time in which Marxism was fashionable among intellectuals, made a magnificent review of what happened in the world since ancient times in economic and social terms and, especially, throughout the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century.
His approach was by no means that provided by a strictly Marxist perspective but he was critical of orthodox capitalist economics. In this sense, in the second half of the twentieth century, it clashed with the liberal and almost libertarian interpretation of the Austrian School and of such a belligerent author as Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).
There are currently several transformation paths in the world, starting with digital technology, the biological revolution, the energy transition, the protection of the planet and the conquest of space. As well as that which comes from the hand of transhumanism and posthuman man, the longevity industry and other movements related to the life of man. And with what has to do, finally, with the advances in the knowledge of the brain and neurosciences, the intelligence of man and Artificial Intelligence.
Emphasis on the transformation of the world of various international institutions.
From a global point of view and very much connected to the way we are transforming ourselves economically, socially and politically in the world, one of the most mentioned proposals at present is the so called The Great Reset (Great Reset or Great Reboot), presented to great fanfare in May of two years ago by Prince Charles of England and the head of the World Economic Forum (FEM) Klaus Schwab (born 1938).
We are also under the perspective created by the United Nations in 2015, Agenda 2030, and the so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS). A continuation, perhaps, of the previous Millennium Goals established in 2000 and with a 2015 horizon, which were largely unsuccessful.
In order not to leave out of this relationship the more economic and economic policy transformations long advocated by OECD OECD and by its former Secretary General Angel Gurría.
Training for Transformation.
We mention this outstanding issue of global transformation simply to point out that, in our opinion, the private university of which we speak has been a forerunner and prophetic in launching its “Forming to Transform” program as the foundation of its formative project and the basis of its educational model.
However, this university has not simply stopped at designing this educational model, but has created a dynamic for its introduction that goes through the idea of “encounter: of the educator with the learner and encounter of both with reality”. All this with an integral vision of the pedagogical model which includes, in fact, the following models: educational model, pedagogical model, didactic model, curricular model and organizational model.
The university we are referring to has also taken care to put everything in an explanatory document of its outstanding project, which is also full of great ideas such as the “pillars of the University’s Mission” and many others.
High staff commitment
And not only has all this been documented, disseminated, explained and practiced at the University, but its responsible staff, especially its Vice-Rectorate for Quality and Organizational Transformation, has been concerned to know the results obtained from its educational action program and has launched a work of analysis of what has been done, including field work, in which the company Innovation Wars, S.L. has collaborated through its Intelligence methodology. [Artificial] Collective,
This post summarizes what was done, both in terms of field work and some of the results. For obvious reasons it is not possible to transmit all the results in question.
There are three detailed reports: road map, executive report and full report. In addition, a report has been prepared with the objective of offering a literary or epistolary vision of the most important aspects of the project, which we are partially using in this post.
Innovation Wars and Collective Artificial Intelligence.
From the point of view of structure, method and techniques, a process similar to that of human thought is followed. It begins by creating a Collective Brain, formed by the participants, their intelligences and their knowledge.
Next, an Institutional Neural Network is created, formed by the interrelationships among the participants (in this case professors from all UFV studies), obtained through repetitive queries in which the hybridization of ideas plays a special role. Such an instrument is nothing more than a dynamic of questioning and a precise methodology of consultation. The main objective is to encourage participants to reflect on the issues (or questions) raised. In no case is it a survey, they are always open questions in which we seek, as we say, the emergence of ideas and the intelligence of the participants.
It takes advantage of the similarities between a neuron and a human brain, between the network of neurons and the network formed by the brains of the participants, and between the role of synapses, axons and low-frequency electrical impulses inside the neural circuits and the interactions between participants. The query system and response analysis is carried out with the help of the Artificial Intelligence algorithms used.
The two active consultations carried out and their treatment by the work team, including the four phases of artificial intelligence algorithms, make it possible to obtain and evaluate the ideas generated by the collective, always seeking, not consensus, but innovation and disruption.
Work carried out by IW for the University in question. Overview of the work performed.
We repeat that what has been done has been an exercise in the search for innovative and disruptive ideas in relation to a specific challenge on which some basic questions have been established. These have been aimed at determining precisely what the collective created in this respect is capable of imagining in relation to the challenge itself.
It is an exercise of collective intelligence perfected and enhanced by a very special methodology of iterative consultation with the participants, which includes, as we have already mentioned, the use of Semantic Artificial Intelligence algorithms (clustering, hybridization and synthesis, swarm intelligence and polyhedral segmentation).
The Innovation Wars (IW) Collective [Artificial] Intelligence (I[A]C) methodology begins with the establishment of a general challenge for the consultation to be performed. In this case, it has been the University’s own educational project: “Forming to Transform” (FpT).
The next step was to identify precisely what we wanted to know in relation to this challenge. Three key pieces of information have been established in this case:
1) traits and values that best define the students in relation to the challenge formulated according to the participating teachers;
2) actions already implemented in relation to overcoming the challenge;
and 3) proposed future actions.
The following are the specific and precise questions to be included in the questionnaires distributed to the group. After being refined with the collaboration of University officials and administrators, the three questions were:
Question 1:
What are the traits or values that would most identify a student who lives the FORM TO TRANSFORM experience in depth and why?
Question 2:
What are the most significant actions or strategies already being implemented to ensure that these traits and values identify our students?
Question 3:
What is the most significant action or strategy you would propose to introduce, so that this trait or value identifies our students?
