The students of Grade of Audiovisual Communication from Saint George University, Marina Sanromán, Matthew Gonzalez, Anthony Gold y Javier M. Huerta were the winners of the third edition of the USJ Debate Leaguea teaching innovation project started in the 2018-2019 academic year with the aim of offering students from all over the university an extra-academic scenario in which to work on transversal skills such as the ability to speak in public, argumentation, critical thinking and teamwork, among others.
In this edition, in which participated 35 students from 9 degrees, was discussed around the theme “Are we happier thanks to mobile devices?”. In the first place, an elimination round was held where the teams competed divided into three groups. The top three from each group and the best second advanced to the semi-finals, so that, of the four semi-finalists, only two groups reached the final.
During the final phase, the winning group defended a position in favor of the stated statement. To do this, they used arguments such as the security that mobile devices can provide, for example, when sending a person’s geolocation; the connectivity and union that they allow between physically distant people, and the large amount of information that can be consulted and consumed through them. Thanks to these arguments, his approach, oratory, etc. They achieved victory by beating the team that defended the position against by 65 to 55 points.
Marina Sanromán explains that her participation in the Debate League was “curious”. Although they had in mind to sign up, they always postponed it. However, in a class of political systems with Cristina Zurutuzateacher organizing the activity together with Nacho Lasierra, were discussing a topic and the teacher, seeing their argument, encouraged them to sign up. “Eternally grateful,” says the student.
For Mateo González, the previous experience they had in this type of activity was decisive. “In addition to the dedication that we have put into preparing it – very rushed, but with quality more than quantity – and, above all, the perception of the subject from different points of view by the entire team, since each one initially she advocated for her personal position and then we redirected her to be able to defend both cases”, she explains. “Our main driving force has been to constantly refute our own arguments to see the cracks that could exist in them and improve them in all aspects,” adds his partner Javier M. Huerta.
Among the skills acquired thanks to this activity, Antonio Dorado highlights “a greater facility for oratory, to capture the attention of the public and to be able to transmit a message clearly”. In addition, he acknowledges that as the rounds passed and they participated in more debates, it became less and less difficult for them to speak to an audience. “We highly recommend this activity if you want to improve in these aspects,” says the student.
In such a tight final, it was the small details that made the difference. “We believe that one of the decisive points that helped us win was our own conviction in favor of our arguments, the fact that we were already psyched up that we were going to win,” Javier M. Huerta points out.
The jury that evaluated the finalist groups was made up of Javier Lasheras, lawyer and professor at USJ; Sarah Hernandez, professor at the University Defense Center, expert in public speaking and trainer of university debate teams; Y Livia Alvarez, journalist and coach specialized in corporate communication.
This project has received financial support from the VI Call for Grants for Teaching Innovation Projects for the 2021-2022 academic year of the San Jorge University.
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