Abstract:

The rapidly changing world poses new challenges that should be adopted to the business models and everyday life in a sustainable way. Educators, especially HEI, have an increasing role in developing new knowledge and competencies to address these challenges and develop new business models and change management skills. Two Finnish universities of applied sciences, LAB and Humak, have undertaken the effort to identify the future development needs by organizing educational, networking and developmental events- as a part of EDUCRO project activities for over 30 SMEs and more than 350 participants. As a result, the key topics were identified to lay out the concept and the content of the future online course that would fill the education gap and equip the learner with innovation competencies. The content and the format of the future course were tested and recorded during the EDUCRO Summer Camp "Sustainable value and business creation in the culture and tourism sectors: current trends". The camp's program addressed nascent topics, such as sustainable development, equity, diversity, ethics, future trends and platforms, digitalization, us of VR and change management in the culture and tourism sectors. The programme of the Summer Camp was built in a holistic way to connect the topics and enable the strategic thinking of learners. The learning methods, such as interactive lectures and workshops held by top experts, were blended with the social activities aimed at creating successful collaboration and teamwork. As a result, students were able to integrate knowledge and create conceptual frameworks on the needs, opportunities and challenges of the current and future trends, as well as identify their role in them. This article illustrates the concept and content of the Summer Camp, as well as the teaching and community management methods employed. The results of this study can be utilized by educators and integrated into the curricula, extracurricular activities, research, and development projects.

Keywords:

Summer Camp, ethics, sustainability, diversity, inclusion, digitalization, VR, future trends.