Martin Mulder

The Special Interest Group (SIG) Workplace Learning (WPL) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) had a good programme during the Annual Meeting in San Francisco which took place from April 27 to May 1. The Business Meeting went well, and an interesting session followed about the future of Workplace Learning research. The elections for the new assistant programme chair came in kind of late, but during the AERA conference we were able to announce that Petri Nokelainen was elected. The 2013-14 SIG Chair is Marg Malloch, who was the 2012-13 Programme Chair. The 2013-2014 Program Chair is Michelle Bartlett. I will serve as the Immediate-Past SIG Chair. We are looking forward to the further development of the SIG, and the next Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, which will take place from April 3 – April 7, 2014. I thank all who were involved in the 2013 programme for their commitment to the SIG WPL.
Apart from the SIG WPL, Arjen Wals, Piety Runhaar, Omid Noroozi and myself from ECS were at the conference and had a good time. The Holland Happening, which was co-sponsored by ECS, was well attended. Saeid Karimi could not make it to the conference; that is why Omid and I presented his poster. We did meet some interesting colleagues during this poster session.

Continue reading AERA SIG WPL 2013 Program Impressions

On 18-19 September 2013, a Symposium will take place on the Innovation in Agricultural Training and Education. Location: George Mason University and Conference Center, Fairfax, Virginia. Read more at www.oired.vt.edu/innovate

On March 21 and 22, the professional master course on competence-based rural development was taking place in Tirana, and went well. Three groups of active students have tentatively developed competence profiles for stakeholders in rural communities, processing organisations, and financial institutions. The approach of multistakeholder analysis attemts were admirable and creative. A big compliment for these future leaders in rural development.

Continue reading Course on Competence-based Rural Development in Tirana went well

The Call for the WU sandwich PhD – program is open again. There will be a difference with the previous program: successful sandwich PhD-applicants will be offered a contract while at Wageningen University.

Continue reading Call for WU sandwich PhD proposals – deadline May 17, 2013

‘Public #employment services top growth #occupations show a shift towards #high-skilled occupations’. See http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=737&langId=en&pubId=7434

Continue reading Small increase in labour demand, especially for high-skilled professionals

Cedefop has published a Call for Tender about ‘Collection and review of skill mismatch policies and practices in the EU’. http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/working-with-us/public-procurements/21080.aspx

Researchers in universities have to comply with national systems of research assessment and related systems for promotion and tenure. But the strange thing is that research assessment systems differ by country. Which system contributes best to research quality improvement? That seems to me to be the key question, but it is a question which is easy to ask, but difficult to answer. I don’t see any answers in the piece of the TES anyway. What is good is that the piece alerts researchers to the relative value of the national research assessment systems and related promotion and tenure criteria, which, however, are difficult to avoid.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422639&c=1&goback=%2Egde_2013888_member_219389266

ECS staff Dr Thomas Lans, Hasse Cox MSc and Dr Harm Biemans are heavily involved in research on Life Long Learning in Europe. First documents are being made available. Further results and publications are awaited in the coming years. Large organizations which are interested in participation in this European project are invited to contact us. Enjoy!

Continue reading ECS heavily involved in Life Long Learning in Europe

Groen onderwijs wordt geconfronteerd met bezuiniging van 55 miljoen op Groene+ middelen. De Groene+ is voor interessante innovatieprojecten. Vakblad Groen Onderwijs (www.groenonderwijs.nl) gaat hierop in. Belangrijke vragen voor dit jaar lijken mij. Waaruit blijkt overtuigend dat de Groene+ middelen effect hebben gehad op onderwijsinnovatie, goed gekwalificeerde uitstroom van het groene onderwijs, en doorwerken in het agri-foodsysteem en de groene ruimte.

Continue reading Bezuiniging van 55 miljoen op Groene+ middelen

Dear website visitors. Today I checked the number of website visitors and hits during the year 2012. I was a bit surprised. The total number of hits has been 242,346. I don’t know if it is much compared to other personal websites, but it is more than I expected. Thanks for visiting, I hope you find your visits useful.

Continue reading Website visitors – thank you