The School of Philosophy and Letters celebrates its traditional workshop of work in Olza

More than fifty professors from the School of Philosophy and Letters have met quotation, for the third consecutive year, at the Palacio de Olza, to reflect on the future of the teaching and the challenges that lie ahead in the academic field.

After some words of welcome by the Dean, Julia Pavón, who thanked the faculty and board for their work during the past academic year, there was a roundtable moderated by Professor Daniel Doyle, in which professors Montserrat Herrero, Gabriel Insausti and Ricardo Piñero discussed the freedom of Chair.

In her speech, Professor Herrero reviewed the historical development of this issue, as well as its legal rules and regulations , recalling that the freedom of Chair "is a right provided for in Spanish law, derived from freedom of expression and freedom of Education". He also pointed out that, like any freedom, "it has some nuance subject ": "This limitation comes from the nature of the institution in which the freedom of Chairis exercised". He also stated that "to defend the freedom of Chair is to listen to what the academic has to say, because he is the one who knows in content and form".

Gabriel Insausti then took the floor, stressing that "to speak of freedom is also to speak of responsibility". He also stated that "the exhibition that exists today often leads to self-censorship", an opinion shared by Professor Ricardo Piñero, who highlighted the fundamental components that should govern the freedom of Chair: "Stop specializing, because what nourishes the University is dialogue between people; serve society, not as it wants, but as it needs; and exercise disobedience". "The freedom of Chair is something you do, not when you do research, but when you teach," he concluded.

The workshop continued with a dialogue on the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the field educational, between Professor Alejandro N. García, from the School of Philosophy and Letters, and Isabel Iribarren, director of the University Library Service. During her speech, Iribarren stressed that AI is not yet fully implemented in university libraries in Spain as "we lack a roadmap to see where this topic is going". He also pointed out that the queries they have received lately related to the use of artificial intelligence in classroom have come from researchers, "not so much to find out about the benefits that this tool may have, but to learn about the different methods that may exist to detect that a work has been made with AI".

For his part, Professor García reflected on the need to rethink the learning objectives of the different subjects, focusing more on the process than on the final deliverables: "If we now have an assistant that facilitates arduous tasks, why not use it at classroom? By making use of this technology, we have to think about the value that we as teachers give".