bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
THE USE OF ONLINE LANGUAGE-LEARNING TOOLS AND RESOURCES FOR SELF-STUDY
Authors: Dumitrescu Virginia mihaela
Published: February 2023

The present paper looks at the way the existing multitude of free online language-learning tools and resources can be successfully leveraged for self-study purposes, especially at intermediate and advanced levels. Self-study, which has long been viewed as either a supplement or an alternative to existing formal education models, seems to be gaining even more ground – along with its basic requirements: learner autonomy and capacity for self-motivation, self-discipline, and correct goal-setting – within today’s learner-centric education paradigm, largely facilitated by the new IC technologies. The paper examines the ideal conditions for effective self-study taking into account the diversity of today’s online learning environments with their profusion of easily accessible instruments and resources, the present-day need for effective communication skills in a multicultural world, as well as the necessity to constantly update, expand or diversify one’s professional knowledge in order to meet the requirements of an extremely volatile and competitive labour market (or the demands of a meandering career path), and the challenges of a world characterized more than ever by speed, pragmatism, and rapid change. To ease language learners’ task of finding their way around the educational tools available on the Internet, it points to a selection of free applications and materials for language learning, assessing their benefits and shortcomings from the point of view of their educational value and convenience, and reflects on the possibility of integrating them in a lifelong education model. Last but not least, it outlines certain generational characteristics of young learners that call for adequate language-learning tools and settings, among which online applications hold an important place.
BLENDED LEARNING METHODS USED IN STUDYING COMPUTATIONAL ASTROPHYSICS
Authors: Boldea Afrodita liliana
Published: February 2023

The paper sustains the importance o blended learning for teaching and learning computational astrophysics in actual digital era. Blended learning is learning method that combines different styles of learning that can be achieved through physical resources and virtual resources mixed. Learning styles refers to the many ways in which students learned and such computational astrophysics. Blended learning is a formal program of education which involves combining Internet and digital media with traditional classroom teaching, requiring the physical presence of both a teacher and students, and there is also an element of evaluation of the student while , place, path or pace accessed. Some blended methods of teaching-learning were successfully used for teaching the astronomy and astrophysics of Solar System objects to students in their final years, using real astronomical data about celestial objects from our Solar System, data obtained from the Astronomical Observatory Isaac Newton (La Palma, Spain) and a direct contact via the Internet with renowned researchers in this area of research. Such an approach to learning brings new challenges and new opportunities for the process of professional training and must have a strong understanding of adequate psycho-pedagogical various instruments to achieve the learning objectives.
LEARNING VERSUS ELEARNING FOR IT PROFESSIONALS
Authors: Vilcu Dana mihaela
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, there is a certain deficit of, and an increased request for, IT specialists. How to get them? On one hand, a multitude of eLearning platforms are nowadays available for education in IT. On the other hand, there are also different levels of IT education comprised by national education systems. Both directions are facing the challenge of rapid changes of the technologies in IT. Also, the big companies are offering IT courses specific to their purposes. So we can say that two different approaches are co-existing now: the classical, academic one, and a more technology oriented one, through eLearning classes or in-place, highly specialized classes. We give a survey of the nowadays situation for the aspects mentioned above, also corresponding to different countries. Our aim is to address a fundamental question: what could the future look like, in preparing IT specialists? From a student perspective, this has a simple translate: what to do to become IT specialist, which type of education to follow? Our purpose is to offer a few answers, and to derive several conclusions. The IT university curricula should be more mobile, and the academic classes should become more practical; moreover, the teaching academic positions should be open to non academic lecturers with specific high competences proved. There should be established standards for recognizing eLearning classes, with possibility to offer recognition and equivalence of the diploma offered. The academic form cannot disappear, but it should be reorganized, while the eLearnig and distance learning in IT, even though very much technological, should be given academic level recognition.
CAD APPLICATION FOR SIMPLE WOVEN FABRICS DESIGN
Authors: Cristian Irina , Harpa Rodica , Piroi Cristina
Published: February 2023

Most existing woven fabrics on the market are “simple woven fabrics” (with a single warp/weft system). In the last decades, multiple companies have developed CAD/CAM applications that facilitate the designing and weaving process of this type of woven fabric (Dobby Designer from Apso, Dobby Designer from ScotWeave, ProWeave from Pointcarre, Design Dobby from Textronic etc.). This paper presents an original application for designing simple woven fabrics (TexD), developed by researchers from the Faculty of Textile, Leather and Industrial Management of Iasi. Unlike the existing applications mentioned earlier in which the weave is graphically built (point by point or as a result of combining the draft and lifting plan), TexD has an underlying analytical method which mathematically generates the weave using simple vector-based algorithms. This method allows for an instant and error-free generation of the weave design, which is time-saving and reduces the need of workforce. Based on a generated weave, a draft (with minimum number of shafts needed) and lift plan are also automatically provided. TexD can combine multiple different generating algorithms based on the direction of the warp/weft, which leads to obtaining complicated and distinctive designs while maintaining a low number of shafts. The application allows for colour management and contains essential design tools such as mirror, flip and reverse cloth. TexD has been used as a teaching tool at the Faculty of Textile-Leather and Industrial Management of Iasi for many years to great effect. Both the underlying method and the application itself are simple to understand and use and it is proven to incentivise creativity in students.
ELEARNING FOR PHOTOSHOP AND ILLUSTRATOR IN TEXTILES AND FASHION
Authors: Gault Alison
Published: February 2023

Photoshop and illustrator are viewed as key employability skills in Fashion and Textile Design. Robert Hume has described Photoshop and Illustrator as "essential tools, though not devised specifically for those activities the brilliant design of the applications, their ease of use and constant evolution has eclipsed many specialist fashion and textile systems. (Hume, 2016)[1] Prior to this project students engaged with computer-aided design in a traditional classroom, with face-to-face teaching within the CAD LAB. This paper will discuss the outcomes to an eLearning approach for computer-aided design on the Textile Art, Design and Fashion Course. The flipped classroom model was implemented with students initially engaged in projects through the virtual learning environment Blackboard Learn. The Students were able to practice the key stages in the project through Blackboard collaborate, PowerPoint presentations and online tutorials. The access to the online tutorial guidance and time on task enabled students to practice and learn at their own individual pace. Teaching Photoshop and illustrator can often cause frustration within a diverse group of learners as a result of the levels of understanding and ability through prior experience. The eLearning approach to CAD covered carefully crafted topics such as mastering layers and custom brushes, learning about stripes and weaves, scanning and manipulation, repeats, colour ways, geometry, filters, flat garments and illustration. The advice, sharing and communication fully supported through the VLE provided opportunities for both diagnostics and correction of common problems. The flipped classroom model through the VLE allows students to work at their own pace building confidence and proficiency. The results of the project where evaluated through the quality of the work presented at the end of the project, student and staff feedback, the marks profile and external examiner reports.
SOFTWARE APPLICATION FOR DESIGNING YARNS WITH SPECIFIED CHARACTERISTICS
Authors: Piroi Cristina , Cristian Irina , Harpa Rodica
Published: February 2023

Yarn quality is an essential concept, usually defined by the customers which demands simultaneous achievement of several requirements concerning the yarns characteristics. For the cotton type yarns, the tensile properties represent the most important parameters for assessment of yarn quality, because these features are key factors regarding the yarns behaviour in post-spinning operations (warping, weaving and knitting) and have a determinant contribution to the properties of final textile product. Hence, an accurate prediction of these characteristics is very important, from both technological and economic points of view. Providing the conditions for obtaining yarns with specified characteristics requires suitable selection of fibres used in blends, correct setting of the structure parameters of yarns and the processing conditions of the fibrous material, in close correlation with the yarn's end-use requirements, the manufacturing technology and the technical level of equipment. Finding an optimal variant of fibre blend involves considerable amounts of work, time and money. Therefore, the use of dedicated software for designing fibre blends may contribute to reduce these drawbacks and allows obtaining optimal blend recipes faster and more effective. The paper presents a software application developed primarily as a tool for teaching students the principles of rational design of fibre blends intended for cotton yarns with specified characteristics, but it can be also used by the spinning companies. The PFirB software is part of a package developed to support the teaching activities with the students from the Faculty of Textile-Leather and Industrial Management in Iasi, was created with Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C++ and runs in a Windows environment.
ASSISTED NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR MEDICAL SCREENING EVALUATION
Authors: Braun Barbu cristian
Published: February 2023

The paper presents a new technology for assisted evaluation of the health status in terms of visual function, referring to screening evaluation for a sample of about 30 persons, aged between 20 and 30 years. It invokes to use a specific equipment for visual parameters evaluation, connected to a PC, having the possibility to run different tests, specific to the activities and jobs most often practiced: reading, driving, sportive activities, working to the PC etc. The procedure consisted into evaluation of each tested subject, by successively running of more tests, in same environment conditions (luminosity, temperature, humidity) and about at the same times. The stored data were statistically processed due to a software application, developed in the research activity. The aim is to highlight (by percentage) the cases of visual problems reported to different lifestyles. To highlight the cases of medical problems, the software application allows the comparative calculus of the visual function parameters, due to the previous registered data. In the actual stage it proceeds to software application programming for the data processing. Due to the statistic data that will be obtained, it will be possible to draw a conclusion on the medical problems incidence by categories of persons with different lifestyles.
A LOW-COST DEVICE FOR INVESTIGATING CHROMATIC VISION
Authors: Barbu Daniela
Published: February 2023

The retina is the light sensitive portion of the eye that contains cone cells responsible for color vision and cone cells responsible for order in darkness. When the rods and cones are stimulated, light signals are transmitted successively by neurons retina, optic nerve fibers then finally reaching the cerebral cortex. Normal eye retina shows three types of color light-sensitive cells; cone cells are sensitive to red light, green or blue. View color deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see colors or the perception of differences between colors. Depending on the number of cells absent or impaired color vision impairment operation is called: monocromatism, when all the cones are missing or not working, dicromatism when one of three types of cells and tricromatism missing or when one of three cell types has a poor spectral sensitivity. In 1802, Thomas Young consider that all human sight is produced by combining sensitivity to red, green and blue. This theory, amended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, it is known as Young-Helmholtz theory or trichromatic color vision. The fundamental idea was that the eye responds to the three primary colors and combining the three primary colors through additive synthesis of colors forms all other colors. These theories underlie the eye color deficiencies investigation. The paper aims to provide an inexpensive device necessary to investigate color vision in humans. This is achieved in the components recovered from the other old systems, reconditioned and assembled using a simple technology. Research presented the paper will refer both to the device and for tests with it. Studies will be made on different age groups in order to detect any abnormal chromatic vision.
VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT SICKNESS - A TAKE FROM AVIATION MEDICINE PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Popescu Dragos marian , Macovei Adrian , Macri Marian , Popescu Andreea mihaela
Published: February 2023

Virtual Environment (VR) helmets are now mainstream, and a variety of uses arose. We focus here on medical and aeronautical use, with the main goal of identifying and possible counteracting the motion sickness phenomena. Methods: A literature review of the main medical problems associated with VR displays, filtered through personal experience with spatial disorientation, NVG, flight simulators and commercial 3D and VR devices. Discussion: A brief introduction to the physiology of 3D viewing and surround visual field is presented. A history of stereoptical devices will be given, along with the problems that plagued them. Significant differences between optical (accommodation-vergence conflict, depth of focus), technological (resolution, refresh rates, flicker), and psychological problems (involvement, object consistencies) will be given. Virtual environment (VR) sickness depends on factors as realism, immersion and user presence, all required for a successful VR. Current display tech have more than one plague to hinder the perfect VR experience. The mismatch brain experience and expectation and the actual perceived input leads to cybersickness, as an extension to Reason model for motion sickness. The two has more in common than apparent, and it may have a more profound ontologic semnification that we are used to believe. Cybersickness is an unintended psychophysiological response to exposure to the perceptual illusions of virtual environments. Reported symptoms include stomach awareness, burping, salivation, drowsiness, nausea and occasionally even vomiting, as well as disorientation, dizziness, headaches, difficulty focusing, blurred vision and eyestrain. Some factors associated with the VR systems used can induce cybersickness. These include poor calibration and lags resulting from transport delay or update rate. Other factors are refresh rate, flicker, the realism of the display, and spatial properties such as field-of-view and viewing region. Human factors that influence the motion sickness are: degree of experience, participant’s interaction, immersion, flicker sensitivity, race, gender, hormonal status. Military experience with simulator sickness will be reviewed. The most encountered health effects as a general guideline for future studies (like a motion sickness chart): eye strain, general discomfort, nausea, focusing difficulty, headache. Successful usage of a VR display depends on habituation, with three key components: desenzitation, immersion and retention, last one being the hardest to achieve. A review of current commercially available technology types will be given regarding medical aspects. VR devices are useful, but on current state one must still endure. Habituation is unfortunately not transferable. We do not foresee a current operational use as yet.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM PLANED WITH SUNNY DESIGN
Authors: Anghel Gheorghe
Published: February 2023

Implementing projects that revolve around renewable energy sources in the national energy system represents a priority of the strategic policy in the department of energy. It is for this reason that we should encourage our young learners to develop such projects, in an attempt to improve the environmental conditions. Geothermal and solar sources of energy are poorly exploited in Romania, even though there is a substantial potential in increasing their use in the following decades. It is estimated that the decade between 2020 and 2030 is going to register a moderate increase in the production of energy coming from renewable sources, such as wind energy and photovoltaic one. As the cost for the greenhouse gasses emissions is raising and the performance of the wind and photovoltaic systems is also rising in relation to their costs that is dropping, the transition towards renewable sources of energy is going to accelerate in Romania by means of an increase in the number of wind power station, photovoltaic ones and of all the other technologies characterised by low greenhouse gases emissions. At the same time, we will witness a decrease of the costs related to the renewable energy sources. These changes are expected to have a strong impact on the energy system, especially after 2030. Taking all these into consideration, I have suggested a group of passionate students to develop a project with the title of“Renewable Energy” , as part of their final assessment. Following Romania’s forecast in the field of energy sources, their project suggests a way of producing and using photovoltaic energy. The presentation is based on plans and simulations of an off-grid photovoltaic system of a mansion situated in Brașov, Romania, that have been made possible by Sunny Design 3.52.0. The project perfectly illustrates a new way of evaluating students, so different from the traditional test and term papers. It involves knowledge in the latest technological advances and a new type of communication in the virtual space. We, as teachers, can no longer remain unmoved by the changes that are happening right before our eyes, therefore we feel self-pressured to use more resources and software products, in order to attract our students’ attention. By doing this, we are promoting a new trend in education called e-learning
"PESCO - PM2 - ESDC" COULD E-LEARNING BRING CLOSER TOGETHER EU'S SUCCESS STORIES?
Authors: Katsagounos Ilias , Rehrl Jochen
Published: February 2023

The publication of the EU Global Strategy in 2016, led to the development of several new instruments one of them, being the permanent structured cooperation (PESCO), that had already existed for a decade but was waiting for the right moment to be implemented. PESCO can be considered the biggest project for European security to date, which brings together the EU Member States, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European External Action Service, the main actors when it comes to the Union’s foreign and security policy. The authors argue that the Open PM2 methodology should be used to manage PESCO. The necessary education and training for project managers and team leaders should be offered by the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and its 140 network partners, under the auspices of the Open PM2 Centre of Excellence by using the well-established and widely recognised e-learning management system of the number one CSDP training provider. The article provides concrete solutions and a detailed training needs analysis.
CELL PHONE USAGE AND METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS
Authors: Dos Bulent
Published: February 2023

The use of cellphones and tablets becomes everyday more frequent at schools and universities, not only in spare time, but also during class. If cellphones are commonly used in class for purposes unrelated to the discipline, it is likely that students may be distracted during lectures or activities, as they often overestimate their ability to multitask which could eventually lead to academic underperformance. The aim of this research is to reveal the relationship between actual time spent by mobile phone users and metacognitive awareness and academic performance. Academic performance will be obtained through the self-report data. Data is planned to collect 100 students who continue their education at Gaziantep University Nizip Education Faculty. As a demographic data, the relationship between age gender and grade level and the amount of mobile phone usage time as well as the relationship between metacognitive awareness and mobile phone usage time will be analyzed by regression analysis. All analyses will be made using SPSS for Windows. First, in order to find significant differences between the average academic performance of subgroups of the sample, independent t-tests and ANOVA analyses will be performed. A hierarchical regression was performed next to verify if there is any statistically significant relationship between cellphone usage and academic performance. The author expecting that there is a negative relationship between academic performance and cell phone usage time. Also there is a negative correlation between metacognitive awareness and actual cell phone usage time. The results showed that there was no correlation between cell phone usage and metacognitive awareness. Also there was no correlation between exam scores and metacognitive awareness. This study showed that there was a strong and positive correlation between self-efficacy and metacognitive awareness.
IMPROVEMENT OF THE COMPETENCE LEARNING TO LEARN THROUGH PEER-ASSESSMENT PROCESSES WITH MOODLE'S WORKSHOP
Authors: Duta Nicoleta , Pons Laura , Cano Elena
Published: February 2023

The design of the Research project "Analysis of the influence of the assessor and assessee roles in the feed-up, feed-back and feed-forward processes and their impact on academic performance" (reference REDICE16-1460) and the innovation project "P2P4L2L (Peer to Peer for Learning to Learn)" (reference 2016PID-UB / 024) are presented. This project aims to incorporate peer review practices (peer to peer) to promote the development of the cross-curricular competence learning to learn. The innovation consists precisely in students assessing the work of their classmates through Moodle's 'Workshop'. It is evaluated the increase of the competence learning to learn these practices generate through an adaptation of the instrument proposed by Munoz et al. (2016), which is administered at the beginning and at the end of the innovation experience to determine if this practice has had a positive impact on students' learning to learn competence. Peer review is a reciprocal process whereby students produce feedback reviews on the work of peers and receive feedback reviews from peers on their own work (Nicol, Thomson and Breslin, 2014). An important process within this is shared assessment, which refers to student involvement in the assessment and learning practice, a process of dialogue and collaboration between teacher and students aimed at improving the learning process, both individually and collectively. In addition, at the end, the impact of the innovative experience on the perception of student learning is assessed through an adaptation of the questionnaire of Gallego et al. (2013). The results presented here seem to indicate that the Moodle's 'Workshop' has advantages, it makes it possible to obtain information about the activity of the students, which allows the teacher to influence more in their learning
DOES THE CAPACITY OF IDENTIFYING THE STUDENT EMOTION EXPAND THE POTENTIALITIES FOR E-LEARNING?
Authors: Lazaroiu George , Popescu Gheorghe h. , Mohirta Ionel , Balica Raluca , Cojocariu Gheorghe
Published: February 2023

A booming stream of research (e.g. Ortigosa et al., 2014) insists that the utilization of computers in education has been instrumental for learners and teachers. The particular information to be gathered requires the objectives of the adaptive e-learning system. In learning frameworks, being able to identify and handle information concerning the students’ emotions at a particular moment may be essential in grasping their possible demands at that time. What makes our research novel is that we investigate the way adaptive e-learning settings may utilize such information to accomplish those requirements at runtime, supplying the user with instructions about undertakings to deal with or subject matter to network with, adjusted to student’s emotional state. Information regarding the student emotions with regard to a course may serve as reply for the teacher. Our paper builds upon and advances existing research clarifying that, in online courses, there may be almost no direct interaction between learners and teachers and thus less feedback. Adaptive Hypermedia (AH) can be employed in the circumstances of e-learning to reinforce personalized learning, by advancing the most satisfactory assignment to be carried out by each learner systematically, in addition to the most relevant multimedia constituents to be displayed to each of the students, in relation to personal characteristics, choices, prior undertakings, framework, etc. CoMoLE (Context-based adaptive Mobile Learning Environments) is an adaptive e-learning system instrumental in grasping the user sentiment, bolstering the configuration and changing generation of e-learning settings able to (i) suggest separate or shared undertakings to be accomplished by each learner or group in consonance with each one’s demands, precedent operations, predilections, or circumstances routinely, and (ii) bring about separate or shared workspaces to reinforce the completion of each undertaking while in progress, consistent with the task to be accomplished, in addition to the user or group characteristics.
E-LEARNING IN THE WORKPLACE: WHY EMPLOYEES MAY BE INEFFECTIVELY INVOLVED IN E-LEARNING PRACTICES TO ACCOMPLISH PREFERRED EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
Authors: Mihaila Ramona , Pera Aurel , Bratu Sofia , Radulescu Adina , Drumea Mihnea
Published: February 2023

There is an increasing body of scholarship (e.g. Wang, 2017) analyzing the way workplace learning has been progressively backed by swift developments in information and communication technology, which has generated deep-seated alterations to the manners individuals access data and knowledge, and collaborate with other employees. E-learning zeroes in on the utilization of computer and network technologies to establish an elaborate learning setting entailing a broad series of information and knowledge resources and an array of clarifications for learning, education, and reciprocal action. Technology-dominated proposals make e-learning schemes less learning successful, determining their confined effect on stimulating individuals to take in and maintaining employee knowledge and abilities advanced. Focusing on the instrumental role of job design, workplace instruction, and educational experience, the aim of this paper is to prove that, for personnel, albeit knowledge and abilities may be assimilated by engaging in e-learning procedures, more frequently employees do not assume that e-learning is significant to their regular activities and effective in enhancing job performance. For entities, e-learning is commonly drawn up without considering the organizational strategy and mission, and particular training preconditions. Our results support prior research and illustrate the urgency of understanding that technology should be incorporated in pedagogical design to enhance technology affordances, education should be adjusted to separate demands and organizational objectives, evaluations should be bolstered to establish the accomplishment of e-learning aims, and strategic planning should be made for putting into practice chiefly in furthering organizational setting or culture. Workplace learning and its climate imply intricate, ambivalent, and constantly indefinite series of circumstances. Our research insists on the needs of regulating objective-led separate, social, and organizational mechanisms determined by the aims to enhance both specific and organizational performance via workplace e-learning schemes.
THE TEACHERS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE USE OF VIDEO GAMES IN TEACHING PROCESS
Authors: Maravic Manojlo , Rakicbajic Gorana
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, in Serbia, in all public spheres, there is a generally positive atmosphere towards the use of new digital technologies, while digital technology and user training for ICT industries are set as one of the national priorities of economic development. The City of Novi Sad already has a centralized position in national IT industry and particularly important data points for present research are two facts: the first one, practical, is that the largest Serbian companies specializing in the production of video games are set up in Novi Sad, and the second one, academic, is that the Academy of Arts, as a part of the University of Novi Sad, established The Video games design program - the first-ever study program of its kind in the Western Balkan region. For a while, video games had stopped being viewed as entertainment for children and teenagers only, but are instead also used in different public spheres. A new academic discipline - games studies - is using the term "serious games", which describes video games intended for education, military training, medical treatment, political, religious and corporate propaganda, and according to some authors, it also describes artistic video games. The focus of this research is in the field of educational video games, so-called edutainment - the concept of education through fun activities, and in this particular case through the use of video games in the educational process. At the point when a new method is about to be introduced in the education process, it is teachers attitude towards the change that will impact the success of this novelty. Therefore, this study should be considered as a probing study which deals with the conditions and possibilities of implementing a video games as a new tool in teaching. The main aim of our study was to explore the teachers' attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning (ASGBL). Also included was a relationship between teachers' ASGBL with employment length, the use of the computer in teaching and playing digital games. The research included 182 teachers from elementary and secondary schools in Novi Sad, 86,3% females, aged between 25 and 63 years. For attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning assessment, we used 25 items questionnaire. The results show that teachers don't have extremely positive or extremely negative attitude towards the use of serious game-based learning. We found no differences between employment length and ASGBL. There are differences between teachers who use the computer in teaching and teachers who do not - teachers who already use the computer in classes have a more positive attitude than those who don't use it. Also, there were no differences in ASGBL between teachers playing games in their leisure times and teachers who do not. In conclusion, elementary and secondary school teachers in Novi Sad have a slightly positive attitude towards the use of the serious game-based learning.
ENHANCING THE MANAGEMENT OF SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR SIMULATION EXERCISES USING DEDICATED WEB-BASED APPLICATIONS
Authors: Marinmarian Coman , Badea Dorel , Luta Alexandru
Published: February 2023

The state of combat readiness for any armed forces is relating to its training level. Besides military operations conducted in the real battlefield, as a "way" of armed forces' training, the training through simulation exercises is the best alternative for improving the combat readiness to all military specialties. Even if a military force will be or not be deployed in a theater of operations, its combat readiness level is maintained at a high state by conducting an effective training based on a well-designed scenario which best fits in an integrated training environment. The simulation exercise scenario aims to accomplish the training objectives, which is based on main essential tasks list that has been tailored for each specific military operation. Throughout the simulation exercise planning process, the planning team personnel have to make use of their planning experience, expertise and all available planning tools in order to mitigate any gaps that could appear during designing and developing a suitable exercise scenario, which best meet the accomplishment of the training objectives. During 2017, a research team from Romanian Land Forces Academy has been conducted a scientific research for setting up a dedicated web-based application in support of the simulation exercise scenario's development process. As a dedicated tool for enhancing the management of scenario development process, T-STML (Tailoring a Response Force - Scenario Tool for Military Leaders) was designed in order to decrease the exercise planning process time and to ensure a well coordination and flow of information among the simulation exercises' planners.
E-LEARNING IN THE ERA OF VIRTUAL REALITY
Authors: Buceamaneatonis Rocsana , Andronie Maria , Iatagan Mariana
Published: February 2023

The extension of communication through 4G and 5G networks and the mobile interfaces open a new perspective for e-learning. E-learning is the answer for a balanced learning system that is answering modern students. Nowadays, students are very active, part of the professional field, working during the day and learning in their free time. The universities have to answer their cultural and behavioural needs. Modern students are keen of new technologies and internet of things and they choose to learn through online platforms. Soon e-learning platforms will be improved with VR facilities. The present article aims to study the modern students’ opinion regarding the e-learning based on mobile interfaces, internet of things and virtual reality. The data on which the study is based on was collected mainly using online tools and analyzed using a specialized software. The students expressed their opinion through an online survey that was distributed to a private university, with different fields of study. Thus, the sample studied is heterogeneous and offers an objective perspective regarding the advantages brought by e-learning for the modern students that decided to work during the day and learn in the afternoon. Based on the collected data, further recommendations are designed for universities in order to gain the battle of preparing the students for the market requests, and for a better future in a circular economy, with direct benefits for the students expressed in the quality of the learning outcomes and collateral benefits like reducing the ecologic footprint and helping the environment to regenerate.
CLOSING THE COMPETENCY GAPS TROUGH E-LEARNING: A CASE STUDY FOR AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
Authors: Cojan Mihaela , Verzea Ion , Gaiginschi Lidia
Published: February 2023

In a world of rapid changes, young graduates have to find and fit to jobs that are increasingly complex. As an engineer student today the opportunities are wide, but in specific fields the demands are often very high for them. Many studies have shown a “gap” between the skills or competences of young graduates and the real needs and expectations of employers, the latter being somewhat dissatisfied with the real knowledge and practical abilities of the former. But we consider that there has been not enough practical and specific research done to investigate the real nature of those differences in expectations. We believe that these gaps begin even from the titles of the jobs posted, continuing with the description of the competences needed for fulfilling those jobs and with the selection criteria used by the recruiters. We also state that the expectations of the employers are sometimes too high considering that fresh graduates are at the very beginning of their careers. The objective of our study is to propose a practical model for a concrete analysis of these gaps and we search for alternative practices by e-learning the skills and competences needed for obtaining and performing in a qualified job, embedded in the courses of a technical university, through a case study in automotive field, in Romania. We hence expect to obtain interesting findings about the true nature of the differences on the subject of employability skills of young graduate engineers in terms of specific job descriptions, the skills involved and efficient ways to improve them even during studies.
THE STUDY OF THE SIMPLE GRAVITATIONAL PENDULUM WITH EXCEL SPREADSHEETS
Authors: Grigore Ionel , Miron Cristina , Stoica Daniela
Published: February 2023

This paper presents a didactic tool designed with the help of Excel spreadsheets for the study of the simple gravitational pendulum in oscillation regime. The period of the pendulum is calculated for a certain value of the initial angular amplitude and it is compared with the zero, one and two-order approximations from the expansion series of the period. Moreover, the velocity and tension force of the thread are calculated according to the angular displacement from the input data. It is shown how the complete elliptic integral of the first kind can be evaluated in the spreadsheet, through the numerical algorithm of the trapezium, from the formula of the oscillation period. The tool charts are placed in the same spreadsheet with the input data and the numeric results to rapidly trace the graphical feedback to data change. The oscillation period was graphically rendered based on the initial angular amplitude and the value of the period for the amplitude fixed in the input data has been highlighted on the graph. Another graph overlaps the period-initial angular amplitude one with the graphs of zero and one-order approximations of the period. The other graph shows, at a set value of the amplitude in the input data, the pendulum velocity and the tension force of the thread according to the initial angular displacement. In the tension force-angle graph, the weight force is highlighted and also the maximum range of values for the tension force is highlighted according to the initial angular amplitude. With the help of this graph, it can be observed that, at small oscillations, the tension in the thread varies slowly with the angular displacement around certain values close to the value of the weight force. This justifies the approximations made when establishing the calculation formula for the period of small oscillations. It is thus demonstrated that the spreadsheet allows to both solve the non-linear equation of the simple pendulum and to graphically analyze some measures characteristic for the oscillatory motion. By using the tool in the classroom, students can simulate the simple pendulum oscillatory motion at any value of the initial angular amplitude and can more easily clarify under which conditions the oscillations of the pendulum can be considered as isocrone.
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS USED FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM
Authors: Platon Otilia elena , Caranica Cristinanicoleta , Catana Aida
Published: February 2023

The growing popularity and use of social media tools have determined teachers to integrate them in the educational process. Many students are incorporating social media tool, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogs, forums, newsgroups, chats and others, into their daily activities and are using them to interact and communicate with their friends. On this basis, social media can be an efficient way to connect teachers and students since it offers new, diverse and socially engaged educational experiences for students in the higher education system. Social media can be used to stimulate active learning for students and it can support multidirectional communication and debates among students and teachers. Also, the flow of information transmitted through social media can be significantly larger than in the traditional environment. Social media has the potential to encourage participation, engagement, reflective thinking and collaborative learning in different learning contexts. Also, given the extended communication capacity of social media tools, teachers can address a large number of students in an interactive manner. The integration of social media as an educational tool in the higher education system offers an alternative for teachers since the current generation of youth becomes less receptive to traditional methods of teaching and learning. It is important for teachers to understand the advantages, but also the disadvantages of using social media in the classroom. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the role of social media in the higher education system and to analyse how these online tools can be used to enhance teaching and learning nowadays.
RESPONSIVENESS TO MOBILE LEARNING IN FORMAL LEARNING - A CASE STUDY
Authors: Silvestru Catalin ionut , Mihaila Alexandru robert , Silvestru (bere) Camelia ramona , Lupescu Marianernut
Published: February 2023

Virtualization of approaches in learning and teaching has increasingly taken over, bringing added value to the quality in the educational act. Nevertheless, technological progress is faster than availability of users in using the most recently developed devices and applications. In such context, taking into account that recent approaches in education needs to keep track with technological developments, we are aware that the reactions to developments in e-education, including mobile learning, vary depending on stakeholders and/or types of approaches that are being used. In the present case study we intend to analyze the interest in using mobile learning among university students with taking into account the possible usage of such learning methods on traditional or blended education. Using quantitative analysis, we focus on interest in using m-learning, on possible reasons why students choose whether to use m-learning/m-teaching resources and on preference towards specific usages of such resources. The survey is conducted online among students from various faculties in economics, from within Bucharest University of Economic Studies from Romania. The current research does not focus on specific mobile technologies, nor on specific mobile applications, but on functionalities of such applications that could be used and specific features that could be encountered in such applications, towards a more user-friendly approach in e-education. Moreover, we focus on perceptions among students, without analyzing reactions of teachers towards interest in m-learning, such approach could make the focus of another research. We expect that students be more keen to use mobile learning, yet rather reluctant in possible use in evaluation. Mobile learning could be a possible solution for both traditional and online learning.
DESIGNING A VIRTUAL REALITY LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Authors: Gradinaru Alexandru , Moldoveanu Alin , Moldoveanu Florica
Published: February 2023

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology that has already applications in many areas like gaming, entertainment, training, health and education. Recent advancements allow average consumers to dive into highly immersive experiences using head-mounted displays (HMDs) for just around a couple of hundred dollars and even lower with headsets compatible with smartphones. Expecting more than 1 million HMD devices by the end of 2017, VR will have a great impact in the next few years, thus more and more teachers are interested to use VR experiences in class to increase motivation and help students to better understand theoretical concepts. If access to VR equipment and costs will eventually not be a problem soon, building collaborative and interactive applications for VR is still requiring graphics programming knowledge alongside networking and others. For this reason, many of today's applications are limited to 360 degree photos or videos, exploration applications with little to no interaction, with no collaborative or rich interactivity features. This paper describes the design of a VR learning management system (LMS) that will help teachers to easily build and publish VR applications for private or public multiuser classes with a rich library of educational resources like buildings, desks, interaction scripts and even entire laboratories as a starter content. The system is managed through a web-based interface with VR activities, assessments and live or offline events. An initial prototype that uses Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) as a level editor is also described, currently being tested with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Gear VR HMDs and with some web-browsers.
ACTIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUES APPLIED IN THE COURSE "TELECOMMUNICATION SECURITY"
Authors: Borodzhieva Adriana
Published: February 2023

The digital generation, called the generation of the six screens – the TV, the computer, the laptop, the tablet, the fablet, and the smartphone, cannot and should not be taught as children’ parents have been taught. Replacing the blackboard with white one, and the chalk with a marker, does not change things, i.e. this is not the way to motivate the students at schools and universities and postgraduates to accumulate knowledge and develop skills for their practical application. It is necessary, through the massive and effective use of ICT-based innovative educational technologies and didactic models, to adapt the education system to the digital generation, and by introducing the research approach into the educational process, to reorient it from mechanical learning to rediscovery of knowledge and developing skills. The paper presents active learning techniques applied in the course “Telecommunication Security” for undergraduate students in the specialty “Telecommunication Systems” at the University of Ruse on the topic of classical ciphers in cryptography. Active learning is a term widely-used in the context of school education, but nowadays it is growing in popularity within universities too. Active learning strategies are incorporated into every component of our course “Telecommunication Security”. For example, encouraging short partner discussions during lectures (i.e., think-pair-share), problem- or case-based research projects, and incorporating time for small-group critical analysis exercises during seminars are all great ways to actively engage students in learning. Some active learning strategies used in the educational process are: 1) facilitating independent, critical, and creative thinking (case-based problem solving exercises; debate); 2) encouraging effective collaboration (small-group discussions, peer instruction exercises); 3) increasing student motivation and performance. Incorporating active learning into the curriculum transforms the classroom into an exciting, dynamic learning environment.