As indicated earlier, since the LinkedIn Competence Studies group grew over 100 members, we are going to have an online meeting. The theme of the meeting is Corona Coping Competence. With the outbreak of the highly contagious COVID-mutant ‘SARS-COV-2 VUI 202012/01’, this theme seems to be highly relevant; Corona viruses will probably disrupt our global societies even further and longer.
During the last couple of weeks I have been inviting a couple of highly esteemed colleagues, who all have an excellent reputation in the field of competence studies. The invitation was to contribute to a flash meeting, and to share thoughts about the consequences of living and work in a time of global crisis with all shades of physical distancing and protection measures.
Four esteemed colleagues reacted positively on my request. These are the following:
1. Aimé Heene, honorary professor at Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organisation in Belgium, co-author with Gary Hamel of the work ‘Competence-based competition’. In my work, I have been citing publications of Hamel and Heene many times. So, I am very excited about Aimé participating in our meeting.
2. Agnes Dietzen, senior staff member of the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Bibb). Among her wide number of projects, she co-organised an international seminar on Work-based Learning as a Pathway to Competence-based Education, which resulted in a publication with the same title. She recently completed a study on work and competence requirements of healthcare workers during the Corona pandemic. It will be good to see Agnes back.
3. Eveline Wuttke, who is Chair of Business Education, especially of Research in Teaching and Learning at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Eveline has been active in the field of competence studies and teacher education for years. Also good to see Eveline back.
4. Jack Elliott, who was Head of Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication of Texas A&M University in College Station, USA, and Past President of the Association for Career and Technical Education Research (ACTER). Currently, Jack is Regional Director for Africa, at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development. I look forward to see Jack back after my various visits to College Station.
All speakers will get a short time slot to share their views on the overarching theme. That is why we call the meeting a flash meeting. It is all about getting to know ones work, and liaise to be able to communicate further on a bilateral level. Myself, I will review the avalanche of papers that has been and still is appearing on Corona and Education.
The tentative programme is:
· Review of literature on Learning and Development in times of Corona. Martin Mulder.
· Corona Core Competence. How to Strategically Navigate Organizations during a Pandemic? Aimé Heene.
· Working and competence requirements of medical assistants during COVID 19. Agnes Dietzen + Colleague(s).
· Teacher Transformation in Corona-hit Education. Eveline Wuttke.
· Corona and Rural Competence Development in Africa. Jack Elliott.
· Discussion
The meeting will take place on March 22, 2021, 19:00 – 20:00 CET (Central European Time). You are invited to join the meeting, which will be facilitated by MS Teams. You can send me an email if you want to participate. Other than that, I will try to collect all your email addresses, and send you an invitation and link by mail.
Looking forward to the 22nd of March 2021, and for now: stay safe.
With warm wishes for the Holiday season,
Martin
