It has been an honour to chair the panel that has judged the doctoral thesis entitled “A trivium for the 21st century”, defended by Mr. Javier B. Teira and directed by Directors Pablo García Castillo and Ana de Luis Reboredo. The doctoral thesis explores in depth the challenges and the needs of today’s education and searches for a realistic response to them, especially with regard to the training of students in digital competences. It is an interdisciplinary work, since it involves the areas of Philosophy, but also Education and Computer Science.

The main contribution of the thesis is the methodological and interdisciplinary analysis (Education, Philosophy, Computer Science) of the potential of Trivium to face 21st century educational challenges, paying special attention to those concerning the impact of digital technology, and also to the new competences associated with thinking, social, communication and emotional skills.

The thesis presents relevant contributions, highlighting Sommers’ analysis of logic as a way of connecting the sciences of speech and the development of digital skills.

The initial hypothesis has been proven in the teaching experiences of the doctoral student, demonstrating the potential of the proposed model. The bibliographic review is updated, accurate and includes the major studies carried out in this field.

It has been a truly magnificent event. It has been an honour to be on the panel of a faculty with more than 800 years of history and a pleasure, not only because of the quality of the doctoral theses, but also because of the many things that fellow panellists, Professor Mercedes Gonzalez Sanmamed, from the University of A Coruña and Jose Manuel Chillón Lorenzo from the University of Valladolid, have taught us.

Congratulations Javier and congratulations to your thesis directors Ana and Pablo.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.