When Juan Manuel Lopera, CEO of TOMi Digital, was 12 years old, a teacher changed his life. Born and raised in a poor neighbourhood in Medellín in the 90s, Juan Manuel believes that his chances of joining the ranks of some gang, like so many boys of his generation, were quite high. Then along came a teacher who, rather than teaching him “addition or subtraction, physics or chemistry, inspired me to spend my afternoons staying at school and learning things.” The teacher convinced his mother to buy him a computer, which required a huge effort on her part. But it was worth it: Juan Manuel became passionate about technology and discovered, with the help of his teacher, a different way of learning.
“I became an inventor to replicate my story 1,000 times over”
“This teacher was not super-skilled at programming, but he motivated me to learn to program. Nor was he a teacher with great teaching strategies, but he had enough knowledge to motivate me to find my own talents. He believed in me, he understood my situation and he changed my life.” He certainly did. And not just Juan Manuel’s life, but also the lives of thousands of students who can now benefit from the inventions of this young Colombian who at age 19 decided to become an inventor “of things that change the lives of teachers so that they can change the lives of their students” in order to “replicate his story 1,000 times over.” So, together with a childhood friend, he founded TOMi Digital, a company that creates with innovative tools for teaching and learning in the classroom, remotely or without Internet.
His latest invention is TOMi, a device that generates Internet connection in the most remote of classrooms, allowing teachers, wherever they are, to be connected when they’re teaching and to access a platform with numerous educational materials (Juan Manuel tells us how it works in this video). TOMi also turns any surface into an interactive screen and is able to process each student’s progress in order to personalise their learning. Juan Manuel defines it as “a mini personal assistant for teachers.” We, however, see TOMi as a device that exudes magic and excitement. The magic and excitement that a teacher passed on to him when he was a child and that he is now giving back to the world, 1,000 times over.
Helping generate excitement
“Excitement is always our starting point. If a teacher does not generate excitement in the classroom, that teacher will not generate learning. Excitement is what motivates the learner to acquire knowledge; and the teacher’s role is to spark it. Our idea is to turn any learning scenario into an exciting one where learning is a result of that enthusiasm that the teacher is able to spark by using our tools.” TOMi achieves that magical effect: “We have small schools in the middle of the jungle where the walls are made of wood, and on those walls an interactive board is set up so that the student can stand in front of the giant tablet and interact with the content.” The magic of TOMi makes children dream: “Children begin to dream beyond the constraints they are growing up in. They become aware of things that amaze them and begin to feel that they are able to invent them.”
Teachers are the Ironman of education
All this is channelled through the teacher, who for Juan Manuel Lopera is and always will be the most important element. They, through TOMi Digital, are only a means to help the teacher: “The needs of teachers are multi-faceted. Not just technological tools, but also access to content so that they can plan their lessons, curate the content to make sure they are choosing the right tools, take metrics. They need to be connected to other teachers, and to have access to communities that help them refine their practices…”
Because of his personal story, Juan Manuel is well aware that technology can never replace the ability of teachers to generate empathy, to understand the realities and problems that each student faces growing up, to identify what motivates them and to guide them so that each one can develop his or her potential. Technology is a tool to help them carry out this important task in the best possible way: “My favourite analogy to describe the relationship between our technology and teachers is that of the superhero Ironman, who is a normal human being, but has devices that make him fly, and a computer that gives him data to help him make decisions… He is still a normal human being, he just has the intelligence to take advantage of the technology that makes him a superhero. That’s a teacher for me: a superhero who needs a little help: technological tools and data to make decisions and personalise learning.”
TOMi Digital is developing the technology that helps teachers become superheroes: Internet connection, digital resources, communities of teachers, personalisation of learning… “It is becoming increasingly clear that the great challenge for education and for teachers is the personalisation of learning. In our case, our software tries to understand which learning paths are most effective in different parts of the world. Although the concept to be developed is the same, the strategies used in a city in Mexico will not be the same as those used in a city in Colombia. The solutions are endless. And that’s where artificial intelligence comes in.”
His current goal is to reach 10 million users in the next 10 years, not only in Latin America, but also in India and English-speaking Africa. To this end, he is seeking partnerships such as the one being developed with ProFuturo. “No one is capable of generating impact alone, impact innovation is everyone’s job,” he concludes. “Only in this way will we be able to meet so many needs and close the huge gaps that exist in our countries.”
