The Reviews of the ESEE2015, the European Seminar on Extension and Education (www.ESEE2015.nl) conference, which will take place in Wageningen on April 28 until May 1, 2015 (and is organised in conjunction with the AIAEE 2015 conference on the same dates and locations), are completed; the selection of proposals is done, and submitters may expect a submisstion notification email today or on Monday December 15, as planned. There were over 200 proposals (we expected only 50), and 120 are accepted (we would have been happy with 40 accepted proposals). It is remarkable to see that many rejected proposals miss a link to the current international theoretical and research context. Several submission were about scientific or practical topics which were interesting for an international audience like 25 years ago. But the field of Extension and Education have moved forward. The rejected proposals may be relevant for local developments, but are not that important for an international audience which is interested in the latest developments in the field of Extension and Education. So we see up-to-date proposals on competence assessment, webinars for farmers, and MOOCs for students. That is quite something different from repetitive replications of studies on the adoption of innovations, and endless variations of studies on extension practices related to demographic variables of target groups. Good to see that there are many colleagues who are working on timely issues and who are interested in coming to Wageningen for this conference next year.

On December 8 I paid a visit to Céreq in Marseille to discuss the competence-based education movement in France. I met with Josiane Paddeu, Patrick Veneau, Katia Melnick, and Matteo Sgarzi. Céreq is conducting various studies on competence-based education in France. An interesting case is related to vocational education in the field of electricity. Continue reading Visit to Céreq

Het is inmiddels al weer twee weken geleden, maar het symposium en feest van ECS op 14 november jongstleden waren een succes. Er waren een kleine 200 deelnemers aanwezig bij het middagsymposium in Hotel de Wageningsche Berg en het feest ‘s avonds voor (oud-)medewerkers en partners in ‘t Veerhuis in Opheusden. Onder de aanwezigen emeritus-hoogleraar Vinus Zachariasse die buitengewoon veel heeft betekend voor de opbouw van de leerstoelgroep ECS, alsook emeritus-hoogleraar Anne van den Ban, nestor van de Wageningse voorlichtingskunde, die zeer actief is geweest in het Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, waarvan het editorship bij ECS ligt. Dank aan alle voorzitters, inleiders, referenten, deelnemers en de organisatie van de dag, en: alle voorgangers van ECS, in het bijzonder Dr Wout van den Bor, die vele jaren leiding heeft gegeven aan de leerstoelgroep Agrarische Onderwijskunde; dank ook voor de mooie woorden tijdens de receptie in ‘t Veerhuis. Het was een mooie mijlpaal. Op een succesvolle tweede helft! Reserveer de datum – 100-jarig bestaan van ECS in 2064. Meer nieuws en verslagen over de dag in het komend nummer van het ECS Bulletin.

Voor foto’s: zie fotoalbum en klik op:
ECS 50 Jaar, Symposium Wageningse Berg en Feest Veerhuis
Foto’s Bart de Gouw, 2014 in opdracht van ECS, Wageningen UR

Continue reading Fotoreportage Symposium en Feest 50-jarig bestaan ECS 14 november 2014

‘The Real Revolution in Online Education Isn’t MOOCs.’ ‘… there is a new wave of online competency-based learning providers that has absolutely nothing to do with offering free, massive, or open courses. In fact, they’re not even building courses per se, but creating a whole new architecture of learning that has serious implications for businesses and organizations around the world. It’s called online competency-based education, and it’s going to revolutionize the workforce’, says Michelle Weise in the October 17 issue, 2014, of the Harvard Business Review. Thank you Michelle, for your wise words. MOOCs is about marketing, real education is about the development of competence and excellence. See https://hbr.org/2014/10/the-real-revolution-in-online-education-isnt-moocs

 

Today I had the privilige of presenting the research review on Vocational Education and Training Research at the Integrated Research Network on Vocational Education and Training (IRN-VET) at the World Educational Research Association (WERA) Focal Meeting, which is organised in conjunction with the Annual Conference of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) in Edinburgh, Scotland. The session took place in the Pollock room of the classical St Leonard’s Hall of the University of Edinburgh. It was nice to see that the audience was more intercultural than the Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET) of the European Educational Research Association (EERA), the incubator of  IRN-VET, is used to, justifying presenting VET research at WERA Focal Meetings in the future. Continue reading Research Review on VET Research presented

This year Wageningen University is the best university of the Netherlands for the 10th time in a row. This fantastic result is made public by the study guide ‘Choice guide Universities 2015’ today.

All study programmes of Wageningen University received good reviews: 14 of the 19 bachelor programmes are qualified as being of top-quality. All programmes were rated by education experts and students. The two courses with the highest scores in the Netherlands are the Wageningen University bachelor programmes Plant Sciences and International Land and Water Management (both with a score of 94 out of 100). Congrats!!!

For more (in Dutch) see: http://www.keuzegids.org/download/141027_embargo_persbericht_keuzegids_universiteiten_2015.pdf

Anne Khaled vandaag gepromoveerd op ‘Innovations in hands-on simulations for competence development’. Paranimfen: Dr. Janna Cousijn; Ir. Carla Oonk; Copromotoren: Dr. Judith Gulikers; Dr. Harm Biemans. Examencommissie: Prof. dr. Renger Witkamp; Prof. dr. Regina Mulder; Prof. dr. Robert-Jan Simons; Dr. Sanne Akkerman. Plaatsvervangend Rector: Prof. dr. Yvonne Rietjens.

 

Ester Alake-Tuenter successfully defended her PhD-thesis ‘Inquiry-based science teaching competence of pre-service primary teachers’. Co-promoters were Dr. Harm Biemans and Dr. Hilde Tobi. Examiners were Dr. M. Svensson from Göteborg University, Prof. D. Beijaard from the TU Eindhoven, Dr. W. Kuiper from Utrecht University, and Prof. T. van Boekel from Wageningen University. Download dissertation via: http://edepot.wur.nl/315471

Continue reading Ester Alake-Tuenter completed PhD-project on science teaching competence

Mulder, M. (2001). Customer satisfaction with training programs, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 25 Iss: 6, pp.321 – 331

Today I was going back to this study as my chair group has to provide a methodology for evaluating the quality of training programs for a practical training institute abroad. This study is precisely on that. It deals with courses in the private training sector. Three types of training programs were distinguished, those which were aimed at achieving: 1. learning results; 2. improved job performance; 3. organizational change. So we did not care about reactions of learners, as we were more interested in the real effects of the training. Indicators for program preparation, implementation and results were distinguished. The aggregated results for the first two types of training programs showed that program implementation has the strongest relationship with program results. Program preparation has an indirect effect on program results, and is of less importance. The direct relationship between program preparation and results is very low. These findings hold for programs which aim at achieving learning results and improved job performance. Projects which are aimed at achieving organisational change face more intermediating variables. The title of the article is a bit misleading. It is not so much on customer satisfaction.It would be better to speak about quality of tailor-made in-company training projects as perceived by the training project managers in the company.

To read the article: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03090590110401791

 

LLLight in Europe, together with the Digital School of Leuphana University of Lüneburg and Zeppelin University, offers starting on October 8th this year a massive open online course (MOOC) entitled “Solution and Innovation Skills”. With this online-course, LLLight and the partner universities take up the topic of innovation and complex problem solving skills: participants learn how to develop and implement new ideas. The ten-week course is taught in English and is free and open to everybody. Systematic development and implementation of innovation is possible for everyone. Participants of this online course learn special techniques to do so while acquiring the skills to solve complex problems. The concept of the class is based on the latest results from the LLL-project. Wageningen University, together with researchers from such institutions as the Harvard Business School, the MIT Media Lab, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the TIAS School for Business and Society in the Netherlands, has developed the ideas for this course and will be delivering them during the course in autumn. For you and colleagues in your organization this is the opportunity to get first-hand experience of research and findings in this field, embedded in a proven didactic concept which allows you to not only learn about the skills, but also to learn how to use and apply them.
For more information about the course, the faculty and participating institutions, as well as how to register, visit http://www.innovation-skills-mooc.com/
For more information about the LLLight in Europe project please visit: www.lllightineurope.com