Carmen Torres: Bringing teachers and students together through virtual networks

As the COVID-19 crisis mounted in mid-March, Spain went into virtual lockdown across the country. One day later, on a Monday morning, Carmen Torres Villarreal, an employee at IBM in Madrid, sprang into action with the rest of her team.
It began with an email from Belén Perales Martín, corporate social responsibility manager for IBM Spain, asking for volunteers to help. Homebound students and teachers from kindergarten through university, she said, would need a way to connect. The goal was to link as many as possible through Cisco's WebEx platform. While Cisco was offering the system for free, the education industry would need help to get it up and running. There was no time for strategy sessions. "We needed it right away," says Torres.
Belén Perales reached out to her network of 600 IBM volunteers across Spain and Carmen linked them to institutions that required virtual connections. Using Box files, Torres provided each volunteer with an instruction packet, user tutorials, troubleshooting tips, and tools to track the progress with the technical support of two volunteers, Jaime Requejo and Enrique Díaz Plaza. "The requests poured in," says Torres.
After a frantic week, Torres now coordinates a fast-growing nationwide effort from her home office in Madrid. In the first four days, the volunteer corps grew to nearly 600, and 154 schools and universities have adapted to WebEx classes. Some of them are huge. In one large institution, Torres says, 191 instructors are up and running virtual classes. "This is just the beginning," she says. "We still have volunteers waiting for assignments."
Javier Martinez, Director of Antonio Machado School in Madrid, is one educator who was able to get his school up and running, thanks to Torres' quick actions.
"We already have the WebEx account fully operational," he said. "We have been using it in virtual meetings with fellow teachers at the Teaching Center. And we have programmed different actions, based on their use. It has been great for us to organize ourselves in this crisis situation we are in. And we appreciate having IBMers as a contact for what we may need."
When Torres isn't coordinating the rollout of virtual classrooms, she works in marketing at the IBM Client Center Madrid, in business development working with clients and business partners.
Torres has been homebound since March 15. She lives in her apartment with her teenage son, who goes out for groceries and other essentials twice a week. As luck would have it, Torres was scheduled for surgery on her foot, so she had stocked provisions, including frozen food. "As it turned out, I was prepared," she says.
Despite the challenges, she's finding her days fulfilling. "This is what we're here for," she says. "Using technology to improve people's lives."

→ Visit the IBM News Room's complete coverage of IBM's response to the coronavirus pandemic