bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
INTEGRATION OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES IN UNIVERSITIES AND STUDENTS' PERCEPTION THEREOF
Authors: Androniceanu Armenia , Burlacu Sorin
Published: February 2023

New educational technologies are a direct consequence of both the evolution of education pedagogical methods and new information and communications technologies: web technologies, multimedia communications technologies. Integration of educational technologies in the formative education requires teachers to focus on developing students' thinking, selecting the content, methods, forms and training criteria and their assessment. Teachers should select the educational technologies that develop a certain style of learning with lasting effect. Our paper contains the main trends of educational technologies identified in the literature in recent years. The main aim of our work was to discover and analyze the perception of students on new trends in educational technologies. For this purpose we used the online questionnaire as the main method of data collection and SPSS or processing, correlation and data systematization. The sample was composed of about 150 students who responded to the survey questions. The main results of the research showed how students perceive the new educational technologies and average level of their responsiveness. The research also highlighted the main correlations based on a set of dependent and independent variables. The last section of the paper contains changes in the field of education policies and strategies in order to integrate new educational technologies into the educational process at the academic level. The main beneficiaries of our research are students, teachers and managers from universities, who will find in this work not only what are the main educational technologies of the future and the current students opinions, but also the main ways of action and needed resources to accelerate their integration in the academic environment.
OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING INTERNET OF THINGS
Authors: Culic Ioana , Radovici Alexandru
Published: February 2023

Nowadays a major part of the industry is shifting towards the Internet of Things, which implies building systems based on multiple interconnected embedded devices. Due to this, there is a need of engineers who are able to design such systems, enable the communication between the devices, build and deploy applications. As a result, more and more educational institutions are working on introducing IoT classes in their curricula. However, while there are plenty of hardware platforms especially designed for education, there is a lack of software educational tools in this area. This paper describes the needs we identified while teaching Internet of Things classes and how we solved the encountered issues by building an open source educational platform for the IoT. We have started teaching IoT four years ago, when there were hardly any development tools in this direction, so building even the simplest IoT device required networking knowledge and a complex setup process before getting to actually build the system. This was because students had to identify the embedded board connected to the network, connect to it and start working on the application. Apart from this, we also faced the issue of making students rely solely on terminal command and unintuitive text editors such as vim for writing the applications. All these challenges made students reluctant to the whole Internet of Things idea and usually IoT classes defaulted to simple electronics classes where Arduino made development and programming easy. Our first solution was to build a cloud platform that would allow students to program the IoT systems from a web interface, making it more intuitive and user friendly. However, by being cloud based, the platform was unreliable when the Internet connection was inconsistent and it also brought some privacy issues. The optimal solution was to build an open source platform, Wyliodrin STUDIO, that would come as a Chrome application. The platform allows students to easily connect to the embedded devices and deploy applications they write in an intuitive interface. Wyliodrin STUDIO scans the network for the available devices and displays them to the students who can connect to any of them. Afterwards, the students can write applications in multiple programming languages, even visuals ones, in a web editor and with a click of a button, the applications gets deployed on the board. This simple process allowed us to focus on the electronics and programming part specific to the IoT, rather than on the setup. This made the teaching and learning experience more fluid and efficient.
CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY-INTEGRATED TEACHING METHODS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors: Epure Manuela , Mihaes Lorena clara
Published: February 2023

Following the advent of the new technologies in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, teaching and learning have entered a new era. As more and more things around us are becoming "smart" overnight and many jobs, together with part of people's lives, have moved in the virtual space, learning cannot have stayed put. The novel face of education is now being shaped by technology-integrated methods, which have permeated all levels and seem unstoppable on their way to conquer new territories and to open new horizons. However, if primary and secondary education appear to be more open to foster them, higher education is still divided as to if and to what degree information technology may be beneficial. Considered by some shallow and irrelevant and so completely disregarded, and by others too expensive to be worthwhile, computer-mediated education has already been enthusiastically embraced by a great part of the academia, who maintains that the future of tertiary education is digital. We are now witnesses to the proliferation of online and distance learning degrees, which no longer require the physical presence and involvement of a teacher in the learning process. Wider access of public and revenue opportunities for the institutions that organise them compensate for the teacher's taking a step back. The present endeavour will attempt to analyse whether the reticence about the use of technologies in higher education is justified or not, and whether their adoption and integration within the traditional seminars and lectures will necessarily improve the learning outcomes.
VIRTUAL LABORATORY FOR TRAINING IN THE FIELD OF DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
Authors: Georgiev Tsvetozar , Krastev Georgi , Ibryamova Elitsa
Published: February 2023

Modern training in digital signal processing requires specialized laboratories with proper equipment. The construction and maintenance of such laboratories is practically difficult task. There is need of expensive equipment and the ability to flexibly configurable different devices. Consumers should be able to build different systems and to have full control over the devices. From this perspective, the traditional laboratories built with a fixed number of devices with limited options and certain software does not provide the necessary training flexibility. However, before conducting practical classes and research, students need to build relevant experimental arrangement. This requires time and, on the other hand, erroneous connections are possible, which can lead to equipment damage. Proposed solutions for virtual labs focus on reducing the cost of equipment. This report presents an approach to building a virtual laboratory for digital signal processing based on MATLAB and input-output module NI USB-6008, as well as specialized software that provides user interface and system performance in real time. The NI USB-6008 module provides ample opportunities. Using suitable control program developed in the software environments like Microsoft Visual Studio, MATLAB, LabVIEW, etc. the values of input signals can be read and output values can be set. NI USB-6008 is one of the data acquisition devices that are supported by MATLAB Data Acquisition Toolbox. It is used to create a link between MATLAB and NI USB-6008. The operation of the real time data acquisition system using MATLAB can be realized as M-file, as a scheme in SIMULINK, operating in real time using the Real-Time Workshop or as a self-executable application, compiled with MATLAB Compiler (MCC). The first method is suitable for large sampling time rates, because the time for single execution of control programs in small rates can't be considered negligible compared to the time rate. Therefore, the management programs are implemented as executable files generated by MCC. The main advantage of such applications is that they operate fully autonomously. The proposed approach of virtual laboratory combines advantages of the traditional physical laboratories as well as those based on virtual platforms.
HTML5 BASED SYSTEM FOR MOBILE LEARNING
Authors: Georgiev Tsvetozar , Dimitrov Hristo , Georgieva Evgeniya
Published: February 2023

In recent years, university education is undergoing major changes regarding ways of teaching. It must meet the emerging challenges and to adapt to them. Increasingly, in educational institutions and their educational levels are offered distance courses or Web-based training aids. Having a wide range of new technologies help realize innovative training methods, thereby expanding traditional. Mobile learning is one of these new innovative methods. One of the advantages of m-learning is that it is fixed on increasing the ability of students to organize themselves their training. Through this kind of training they have the opportunity to learn, using their own mobile devices, anytime and anywhere. Mobile learning is extremely flexible, as is practically available. It opens new opportunities for students who otherwise could not participate in the traditional learning process for one or another reason. Mobility enables students to be in contact with their peers, teachers and educational resources when they are unable to attend traditional training. This report describes a HTML5 based system for mobile learning developed in the University of Ruse. The system is adaptable depending on the used device - personal computer or mobile device. When a PC is used the system supports four user groups - administrator, teacher, student and guest. When a mobile device is used the system supports two user groups - student and guest. The system is designed on a modular basis. Separating the business logic from the user interface enables faster and more easily update of the system. As mobile devices are characterized by the small screen and limited methods for input the information compared to PCs, the interface design for mobile version is consistent with these characteristics and does not burden customers with unnecessary complexity.
PROPOSING A SECURE FRAMEWORK FOR ELEARNING PLATFORMS USING ATTRIBUTE BASED ENCRYPTION
Authors: Nita Stefania loredana , Mihailescu Marius iulian
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, technology grows fast and cloud computing and big data become important parts of the businesses. Cloud computing brings many advantages, such as flexibility, easy recovery, automatic software updates, availability – which allows users to work from everywhere. One of the most important characteristic is that cloud computing provides resources on demand, all we need is an internet connection. So, cloud computing is adopted by more and more companies due its benefits. An important aspect of the society is education. As the technology is expanding continuously, also the education needs to move in parallel. As a consequence, we can follow different courses online, on the eLearning platforms. There are many eLearning platforms, with different subjects of learning, some courses being provided by top universities, or top companies with certificate of completion after a final exam. Due to cloud computing benefits, eLearning platforms could be developed as services. Still, a sensitive subject regarding to cloud computing is its security. The cloud computing security is threatened from many points of view, because of its complexity. The security issues could occur at the communication level (because of shared infrastructure, virtualization, and configuration), architectural level (security challenges for data storage, web applications and APIs, access control), or contractual and legal level. The researchers are working continuously in order to provide strong security. For example, at the architectural level, could be used attribute based encryption or identity based encryption techniques. In this paper we propose a new framework for an eLearning environment, provided as a service, such that, it could be accessed from everywhere and on every type of device. We secure our framework using attribute based encryption scheme applied in cloud computing.
FACE RECOGNITION FOR EDUCATION IN THE CLOUD
Authors: Stelea Georgealex , Zamfir Sorin , Gavrila Cristinel , Curpen Radu
Published: February 2023

Over the last decade, face recognition has become a popular area of research and with the cloud computing paradigm gaining more and more ground, thus ensuring the resources needed for real-time image/video analysis, new and more powerful face detection algorithms have been developed. Face recognition has a wide spectrum of applicability such as: access control, identification systems, surveillance or monitoring group emotions and combined with real-time and cloud-computing paradigms has led to the development of various successful systems used by important entities (SmartGate – Australian Customs Services, Next Generation Identification –FBI, Visidon Applock – Android ). The main advantage of the face recognition is that it is a non-contact process thus, it is able to offer a wide rage of information about a subject or group of subjects without requiring explicit actions from the target except the presence. The paper presents the face recognition for educational purpose, with the challenges and opportunities of cloud computing. The perspective of usability is more on intelligent testing based on real-time communications, with thin clients and face display embedded in usual browsers but with strong data analytics in the cloud, for authentication or classification.
VIRTUALIZED VIDEO AND CLOUD COMPUTING FOR EFFICIENT ELEARNING
Authors: Suciu George , Anwar Muneeb , Mihalcioiu Roxana
Published: February 2023

Multimedia content has become more and more popular in current eLearning platforms. However, there are still many use cases which require virtualized resources from cloud platforms: gamification, video analytics, and surveillance during exams, video conferencing for coaching, and video streaming (live and video-on-demand) services. This paper has the purpose to present how video services can exploit the virtualization techniques to provide ubiquitous video learning experience. Virtualization consists of multiple operating systems on a single physical system. Virtualization shares the underlying hardware resources, providing multiple execution environments for software partitioning and time-sharing. Furthermore, virtualization is the basis for cloud computing, which is adaptable and secure sharing of resources as a service, leading to ease of use for different types of computing platforms. This gives to the teachers the authority to deploy their curricula to new channels and to promote it with efficient video communication solutions. It is expected, from this point of view, that virtualization will contribute in a beneficial way to these use cases. The main concept we present in this paper is how to virtualize the video services and utilizing them combined with other eLearning techniques, whereas the virtualization technique permits virtualization for full server machines along with the whole operating system. The main objective is to demonstrate they can be monitored and easily be maintained, as well being extremely secure and provide uninterrupted services. Furthermore, virtualized video using Cloud would establish and provide quality eLearning relationships regardless of distance and devices or operating systems, being accessible through a web browser.
USE OF LIQUID CARGO HANDLING SIMULATOR FOR TRAINING OF MARINE CADETS AND OFFICERS
Authors: Toma Alecu , Atodiresei Dinu vasile , Cotorcea Alexandru
Published: February 2023

Present paper is an integrated study on the need and use of Liquid Cargo Handling Simulator (LCHS) in the training of deck cadets and deck officers on transport and operation of dangerous cargo. The input data of the study are based on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) requirements and curricula of disciplines elaborated in Naval Academy. The output data are represented by the dynamics of bachelor and master students who have completed this training module. Use of simulator and developed applications are in accordance with the recommendations contained in STCW 95 A, B-V/1, International Maritime Organization (IMO) model course 2.06 Operation Cargo Simulator - Ballast and N2.14 Standards "Maritime Systems Simulation" of DNV. It is based on real systems and controls of ships type: chemical tanker, liquefied natural gas tanker (LNG), product tanker (such as Inert Gas System, Hydraulic and Ballast System, Deck Wash System, Heating System etc.) and, also, a LNG terminal for those who are trained for operating in ports. In the simulator, the students had the possibility to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in the course by solving situations evolving in real time identical to those encountered on ships or terminals. There are used prior learning theory from Ship maneuvering, Ship construction theory and Naval equipments and installations disciplines. Evaluation of acquired skills comprise the appropriation of procedures for cargo handling and operation for all the types of ships and terminals mentioned above. The dynamic of bachelor and master students who attend or attended the training on liquid cargo handling simulator is statistically analyzed and represent an indicator for future development.
A REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTIONS FOR ADULTS WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS
Authors: Vagg Tamara , Plant Barry , Eustace Joe , Tabirca Sabin
Published: February 2023

Cystic Fibrosis is the most common life limiting genetic disease affecting Caucasians. The life expectancy of this cohort has increased and is predicted to reach retirement age. As most CF patients are diagnosed from birth, they undergo educational and management programs throughout their lives. However numerous studies have identified various knowledge gaps. This paper presents a scoping literature review of the available educational interventions for adult CF patients. This review follows the framework as outlined by Arksey et al. [9]. A search string is entered into four databases and the resulting literature is downloaded into the academic reference manager software, Mendeley version 1.16.1. The manuscripts are then subjected to title, abstract, and introduction refinement. The remaining manuscripts are then reviewed under the following headings: 1) Aims/Objective, 2) Patient Demographic, 3) Educational Focus, 4) Research Type Conducted, 5) Methodologies, 6) Results, and 7) Author Noted Limitations. Of the 3649 manuscripts, only eight remained after the refinement stages. A significant amount of the papers that were excluded focused on CF pediatric patients only. Of the remaining papers, four manuscripts focused solely on CF adults. Seven of the papers identified a range of issues with CF education, including anxiety, knowledge gaps, and a lack of educational teams. Five papers introduced an educational intervention, only one was for CF adults only. Two of the interventions were ICT based. Of the manuscripts, one intervention that targeted both children and adults was reported as being implemented into the hospital services long term. From the final papers reviewed, it is apparent that there appears to be an issue with adult CF education and knowledge gaps. With CF survival rates rising and a new aging CF population emerging, there is a need for educational programs and interventions to meet the changing needs of the CF adult population.
LUDIC EVALUATION AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN ENGINEERING: THE CASE OF THERMODYNAMICS
Authors: Yepesmartinez Julian
Published: February 2023

The subject of Thermodynamics is imparted to students in different engineering programs. Students in Colombia usually take the course between the fourth and fifth semester of their academic programs. The course has historically presented high loss rates due to the difficulty of understanding and appropriation of concepts. Consequently, the professor started a project to help students in the course, by using ludic-evaluation methodology. The article presents the most important results of student perception in self-efficacy, engagement and achievement of learning objectives. The a ludic evaluation methodology was applied prior to the first theoretical evaluation in of Thermodynamics course at Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla-Colombia) in three different cohorts (one in 2015 and two in 2016). The study is structured in four phases and includes the interaction with other academic support offered by academic peers within the same university. The first phase occurs two weeks before the application of the theoretical evaluation, and includes ludic-evaluation with a video game to diagnose the level of achievement of the learning objective. The second phase, includes academic peer support and uses the results of the ludic-evaluation, to carry out improvement actions. The third phase performs the theoretical exam. During the final phase, the professor applies a survey to the students to obtain their perception about the subject, the way they learned and their role as students within the achievement of the learning objective. Results show that students have an open mind to learn and increase their level of engagement to the subject, also improving on the objective results at the end of the course. .
TRENDS IN BLENDING UNIVERSITY COURSES WITH MOOCS
Authors: Bogdan Razvan , Bicen Huseyin , Holotescu Carmen
Published: February 2023

Since 2008, the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have brought innovation, research, new policies and paradigms, but also challenges to Academia worldwide. Usually developed and delivered as independent online courses, MOOCs are used for blended learning in many universities. This study analyses a corpus of 52 selected articles related to using MOOCs in higher education courses. The aim of the research is to find answers to the following questions: Which models of MOOC integration exist? Which are the research topics and trends identified in the state-of-the-art literature presenting the integration of MOOCs into blended courses? The article could be useful for teachers/instructors wanting to integrate MOOCs in their courses, but also for researchers and policy makers. Higher education institutions from around the globe are challenged with a demand of improving student learning, but also with the constant requirement of demonstrating the effectiveness of different academic programs. It has been presented in that teaching and learning cannot be reduced only to technology, but to be based on open pedagogies with key ingredients such as students' engagement, open learning environments, presence of challenges etc., constituting what is coined in literature as effective teaching. In has been demonstrated that those students who are profoundly challenged and engaged will be much more prone to reflect, then question, evaluate, and finally make connections between a spectrum of ideas. A state-of-the-art educational approach for obtaining effective teaching is that of blended learning. Such a method offers to students a combination between traditional in the class, face-to-face instruction and a plethora of outside the class activities.
HOW MOOCS ARE BEING USED FOR CORPORATE TRAINING?
Authors: Bogdan Razvan , Holotescu Carmen , Andone Diana , Grosseck Gabriela
Published: February 2023

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have emerged as a paradigm in academic teaching and research. Year of 2012 has been declared as “the year of MOOCs” marking the point when renowned universities have joined their efforts with private companies in order to offer open and free, online education. MOOCs have been used in a plethora of scenarios, starting with offering entire courses and specializations and ending in blending them in university courses. Consequently, a large amount of research has been directed towards the evaluation of MOOCs’ usage and existent solutions. Big data techniques, machine learning algorithms, sentiment analysis are just a few of the techniques used to evaluate MOOCs-based teaching scenarios. One of the research subject which is still under development is that of applying MOOCs into private companies. How many companies are using MOOCs? Which are the scenarios in which the MOOCs are being used? What benefits are mainly looked after by the companies? Even if we find different state-of-the-art papers giving different guidelines about how the industry can actually take advantage of MOOCs, the application of MOOCs into industrial environments, projects and teams is still a topic that needs to be further addressed. The aim of this paper is to understand the degree in which private companies are using MOOCs. In this regard, the present study targeted international companies, but also organizations from Europe and Romania. The results are extremely promising into further developing of the presented approach.
GENERIC ONLINE ALGORITHM INTERPRETER WITH DYNAMIC DATA VISUALIZATIONS. CASE STUDY ON SORTING ALGORITHMS
Authors: Chirila Ciprianbogdan , Raes Remy
Published: February 2023

Nowadays IT is present in our everyday life like: cars, phones, clothes, watches, houses etc. In this context the developing industry for such products is in a continuous need of specialists. One of the basic features of IT specialists is the ability to program, namely to be able to write code to be understood by machines and devices. Each year company representatives ask universities to double the number of graduates. Teaching students to write code is a complex and hard task proved by very high dropout rate after the first year of study in the distance learning programs. In order to ameliorate this issue and to help students learn the theoretical concepts of programming tutors can use efficiently learning objects deployed on LMSs. Learning objects can be simple or plain (LO), generative learning objects (GLO), and auto-generative learning objects (AGLO). GLOs offer instantiable reusable templates for different learning objectives. AGLOs add automatic instantiation enhanced with random variables in order to increase content diversity. The runtime of a program is for first year students like a black box, they do not control the code very well. Debuggers may be a solution in this sense, but usually they are built for experienced programmers, they have to be configured, sometimes they are difficult to follow, do not offer spectacular views of the changing data etc. In order to help students understand how their code behaves at runtime we propose an online code interpreter with runtime data visualizations and we analyze the impact of such a generative learning object on their progress. Thus, we consider that such efforts will contribute to the idea that the technology can support learning efficiency.
ACTING LIKE A HISTORIAN IN A TECHNOLOGY BASED CLASS
Authors: Hurduzeu Nicolae , Craciun Dana
Published: February 2023

Current students are surrounded by ICT since an early age, being used to communicate, collaborate and access short informations, generally presented in a visual form. In this context, education should take into account both the informal preconceptions/knowledge of students and their previously acquired competencies, their learning style based on visuals, their need to communicate and collaborate in the virtual environment. There are many strategies one can adopt to encourage students to study history. Perhaps, one of the most effective strategies in the context described above is one in which students are asked to "act as a historian" using specializedresources and applications. This role play would greatly benefit from the access to information as well as the collaborative and presentation advantages offered by modern technology. Examples of research questions that can serve as a basis for authentic learning activities are: What information can be extract by analyzing a historic drawing/cartoon? How can a photograph be analyzed from a historic viewpoint? How can the research results be presented in the virtual environment and in visual form using specialized applications? On the one hand, visual representations such as drawings, cartoons, photographs or posters are historical sources investigated by the students and on the other hand, said representations can serve as a way through which students can transmit their knowledge. Thus, we speak both of a digitization of historical resources and the study and interpretation of such means, the use of open educational resources or of various information media and the intertwining of the virtual environment with the historic reality in class. Our study presents the way in which digital cartoons, mind maps and other specialized web applications for generating visual representations can be used to teach/learn history. We describe the applications andpossible learning activities based on them. We analyze the impact of using such applications taking into consideration that most of the examples have been developed by pre-service history teachers enrolled in the Teacher Training Program at the West University of Timisoara.
BIG DATA TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION. OPPORTUNITIES, OFFERINGS AND CHALLENGES
Authors: Stefan Livia
Published: February 2023

Higher education is evolving to a data-intensive domain, with academic institutions becoming increasingly complex from the point of view of managing and analyzing the digital information, coming from of a variety of activities, either curricular, extra-curricular, administrative or financial. Teachers and students interact with a diversity of educational resources and technologies, which are accessed by both formally enrolled but also informal continuous learners. The present paper investigates big data in the educational context, summarizing technologies, platforms, interesting use cases in regard with other related technologies, also challenges from developing a big data solution. A survey-based research was conducted among teachers and students to investigate the awareness of big data opportunity in a higher vocational university. Finally the paper presents analytical requirements for a VBL web portal as a future work.
I AM A TEACHER IN THE DIGITAL ERA. WHAT TO CHOOSE: GOOGLE CLASSROOM OR MOODLE?
Authors: Chicioreanu Teodora daniela , Cosma Ioana
Published: February 2023

The introduction of a wide variety of new learning technologies has impacted the training methods. As PCs developed quickly in the 20th century, and as the mobile phone use has exploded during the past 10 years, we have started to witness a shift from the classroom-training model, where a Trainer sits in front of the classroom, towards a diverse mix of learning approaches made up of many different frameworks. In the era of technology, every trainer accesses - in the teaching activities - a series of online applications to facilitate the trainees' access to a range of information, catch their attention much easier, and ensure their attention retention for longer. The teaching staff's concern in creating digital educational resources implies knowledge of the online applications and platforms by means of which they come closer to the digital generation. The 2017 trend involves Google Classroom and Moodle, another Open Source alternative, having a wide coverage in the educational field. The communities created for educational purpose involving the use of the Google Classroom and Moodle platforms provide the technical support and documentation required to start implementing the technology la the classroom. The digital generation is receptive to everything involving accessing information while using any type of internet access device. The platforms provide this interface availability on computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc. This paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the two platforms from several perspectives. Concurrently, a presentation is made of the reaction to and impact of these web2.0 applications on teaching staff having performed refresher activities involving both platforms, through the Teaching-Staff Resource Centre (Casa Corpului Didactic) of Bucharest. A new pedagogical approach is suggested, a strategy implying that the learners should be strategists and agents of change rather than be waiting for indications from the training staff as regards what they should study. The advancements in the field of new technologies have changed exponentially, which determined the change in how we work and learn.
COMMITMENT AT THE WORKPLACE -IMPLICATIONS AT PERSONAL AND ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL
Authors: Balanescu Ramona cristina
Published: February 2023

The concept of commitment at the workplace is one of the concepts raising a wide interest in the field of the human resource management and organisational management. This interest is proven by the evolution the concept has seen in over half a century, starting with Becker (1960) - the one-side-bet theory, Porter (1974) – the affective dependence theory, O'Reilly and Chatman (1986), Meyer and Allen (1984, 1990) - the multidimensional period, and ending with Cohen (2007) - the bidimensional model, and Somers (2009) – a combined theory, each of them making a contribution to the way the term of organisational commitment is known and interpreted nowadays. Practice proves that certain people are dedicated to the workplace, because they do what they love or because their career objectives are similar to those of the organisation. Others show their fear of leaving a “safe” workplace or are afraid they cannot find a better one. This type of behaviour can have negative effects both on the person’s wellbeing, self-respect or professional satisfaction and on the institution where the person works. Or, the organisational commitment is precisely what makes the difference and a decisive impact on obtaining performance and on how people act at the workplace. Employees are usually energetic, motivated, and positive immediately after employment in a company or organisation. A Leader/Manager is not only interested in finding the Company commitment level at a certain point in time, but also to act in order to keep that same level and to even grow it, to know the employees, their characteristics (their needs and wishes, and what is important for them). It is only this way that commitment can make a strong impact on the success of an organisation, since devoted employees identify themselves with the company purpose and values, have a strong desire to belong to the organisation, a desire to go over and beyond the responsibilities required by the job. Furthermore, if the human resources are an organisation’s best asset, then devoted human resources should be regarded as competitive advantages of the company. This study has an exploratory character, aiming at determining the extent to which employees show commitment or nu to the organisation they are a part of, as well as at identifying the determining vectors for this behaviour. The study participants are the result of a non-probabilistic sampling, based on availability criteria. The sample includes employees of private organizations (small, medium, and large enterprises), holding various positions (entry level, expert, management, top management). The data were collected via a self-administered online questionnaire. The study analyses the commitment related to other elements specific for the organisational flow, providing managers with useful reference-marks in building an organisational climate sustaining performance and supporting the employees’ work satisfaction increase.
TRAINING WITH REAL TIME SIMULATOR FOR SMART SPECIALIZATION
Authors: Calofir Vasile , Fagarasan Ioana , Arghira Nicoleta , Stamatescu Iulia , Stamatescu Grigore , Iliescu Sergiu stelian , Hossu Daniela
Published: February 2023

Real-time simulators for training purposes are very useful considering the cost and fault damage reduction comparing to practice on real equipment. Building in house equipments in the universities allows, also, having platforms more appropriated to specifically training needs. Professional training for smart specialization must consider the correlation between research and development activities in universities, latest technologies used by industry and training specialization needs. This paper proposes, based on the analyzed needs for professional training, an educational system for specialized training in engineering education with application in multiple fields as: transportation, power systems, process engineering, chemical processes etc. The simulator has an open architecture that includes a human machine interface (HMI), an embedded industrial PC, data acquisition modules and one or more programmable logical controllers (PLC). The industrial PC with its computation abilities can conduct digital simulation of industrial processes that can be visualized and user controlled through the HMI. Also, from the HMI, process configuration and parameters can be customized and measurements displayed. The PLC configuration allows implementing different control scenarios. This open educational architecture allows multidiscipline training of teachers, students or professionals by making remote experimentation possible and applications in different subjects such as: system theory, control systems, fault diagnosis, system identification etc. The embedded-PC based approach for real time simulator has proven to offer a modular hardware and software architecture with good performance which could support more demanding and complex process models and control strategies needed for specialized training. The open architecture facilitates reconfiguration and development upon request with other ICT technologies (e.g. IoT compatible interfaces, SCADA, etc).
COUNSELING TECHNICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Authors: Epurescu Elena oliviana
Published: February 2023

The study regarding the counseling needs of students for the teaching career was realized during the psychological and pedagogical module of the Teaching Personnel Preparation Department of the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The ‘professor-engineer’ qualification is assured through a package of classes provided by the curriculum of each faculty; at this programmed of the psychological and pedagogical module are added the counseling and consulting activities regarding the option of the students for educational profession. We are expecting the advantages of the counseling/consulting programs in career created based on a strong needs analysis, following logical and psychological criteria of the content and strategies, will lead to these results: increase of quality in the consulting field for educational career through utilizing modern methods and means; developing necessary competences of a future teacher and correlating them with European educational policies and workforce demands; raising awareness of future professors about training for the didactical career; increasing the rate of access to knowledge and information sources; greater satisfaction for the students that follow the psychological and pedagogical module; developing a culture of responsibility of the professor’s status; developing a best practices guide. In short, this paper opens new ways, generates new significant challenges on counseling, and, in general, and, in special, for the didactical profession, suggests new ways and strategies for managing a practical situation. The paper demonstrates its practical utility by satisfying the need of information in the counseling and consulting field for didactical career, also offering openings for project management in counseling and orientation for the teaching field.
ONLINE FEEDBACK IN LEARNING. STUDENT'S PERCEPTIONS.
Authors: Ianos Maria gratiela
Published: February 2023

The feedback represents an essential factor in the teaching-learning process. It has a regulatory role in students’ learning activities, helping them to correct their mistakes in future learning activities, but also to improve their acquirements. Moreover, the feedback can help the teacher to adapt his teaching techniques to student’s needs and performances in order to improve the quality of the instructional process. There are various studies that discuss the importance of feedback in the teaching process, but few of these treats in detail the online feedback. Such detailed studies are needed on the use of online feedback in the instructional process, being important for both students and teachers in the teaching-learning process. The emergence and evolution of new technologies offer new alternatives for giving online feedback. Unlike traditional feedback, the online feedback is given in the absence of face-to-face interaction between teacher and student. This can affect both the quality of feedback and the results obtained by students in their learning process. This paper aims to analyze students' perceptions on the use of online feedback for self-regulation and improving their learning. It was studied the preference of students for online feedback and on the influence that online feedback has in their learning process. In order to accomplish these studies, a questionnaire on a sample of 50 third -year students in a technical faculty was applied. This faculty use an online educational platform to complement traditional instructional activities. Based on the obtained results, recommendations were suggested on providing online feedback to improve the learning process.
ICTS AS RESOURCES FOR EMPOWERING VULNERABLE YOUNG ADULTS FACING LABOUR MARKET CHALLENGES
Authors: Litoiu Nicoleta
Published: February 2023

This paper is aimed to present a comparative view of the ICTs use and its contributions for empowering vulnerable groups as adults in long-term unemployment to face the labour market challenges. Across Europe, long-term unemployment represented by the vulnerable adults is a growing problem that has significant long-term consequences for individuals, communities, economies and societies. The current economic crisis has led to high levels of general unemployment, which is increasing throughout Europe countries. The Europe 2020 Strategy focuses upon education and training through the Strategic Framework for European co-operation in education and training (ET 2020), which sets supplementary benchmarks to be attained by 2020. Their achievement implies the support of integrated guidance and counseling services. The EU’s goal of an employment rate of 75% for those aged 20 to 64 by 2020 is a major cornerstone for implementing lifelong guidance services and requires specific actions for vulnerable groups on the labour market, particularly affected by the effects of the unemployment phenomenon. From this perspective, ICTs as useful resources have an important contribution in supporting these vulnerable groups to adapt to the dynamic of the labour market and meet the requirements of the employers. Not the last, the aim of this paper is also to stimulate reflection on the cross-cutting nature of career counseling and career management concepts in the flexible and integrative framework of the lifelong guidance services for thinking and reflection about the knowledge and skills of the vulnerable adults searching for a job in the present turbulent times.
OCULUS RIFT USED TO ASSESSMENT AND REHABILITATION OF POSTURE AND GAIT
Authors: Baritz Mihaela ioana
Published: February 2023

Postural assessment and rehabilitation methods are diversifying according to the technological development of biomedical equipment. A special attention is directed to the choice and use of the latest equipment construction from which to obtain maximum efficiency. Thus, this paper presents theoretical and practical aspects of using a system type Oculus Rift for assessment and motor recovery. In the first part of the paper, the applications of this system are described in the current development stage, and in the second part, some theoretical aspects are presented. The paper continues with the third part, describing the experimental setup and the recorded results. Experimental system used was based on a set of recording equipment for loco-motor and postural parameters (pressure plate and plate forte) and had like simulation element of various forms of instability, an optoelectronic system, type Oculus Rift. In addition it was used anthropometric instruments to assessment of the subjects participating in recordings activities. Analyses were performed on a sample of subjects, in different moments of the day and with different images used in Oculus Rift system. With these subjects had simulated different postures and gait, to assess the influence of Oculus Rift system on their motor characteristics (postural instability in gait, trajectories of gait, bipodal stability). According to these evaluations it can be set a particular configuration to establish special loco-motor rehabilitation procedures. All these investigation had the purpose to establish “friendly” procedures to assessment and motor rehabilitation. Conclusions and future directions of this research development are presented in the final part of the paper.
INTERNET OF THINGS IN EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY FOR LEARNING AGRICULTURE
Authors: Birsan Jullia , Stavarache Diana , Dascalu Mariaiuliana , Pavaloiu Bujor ionel , Neagu trocmaer Ana maria
Published: February 2023

Nowadays investing in innovation and technology is essential for social progress and economic development. A great challenge is to learn how to properly exploit all the benefits brought by technology in various industrial fields. The current paper focuses on agricultural industry and proposes a monitoring and controlling system for a greenhouse using the concept of Internet of Things. Of the many advantages Internet of Things brings, its ability to innovate the landscape of current farming methods is outstanding. The Internet of Things is transforming the agriculture industry by increasing the quality, quantity and cost effectiveness of agriculture production. Our proposed system uses Internet of Things to remotely monitor sensors that detect soil moisture, temperature and luminosity and control the irrigation equipment. Real time data is displayed with the use of a web application and the user has the possibility to control functions such as opening/closing the roof of the greenhouse, turning on/off the lights and irrigation or even setting a desired temperature just by one click. The system is a miniature; thus it can be used in educational purposes: one can learn how to grow plants or learn biology in a more interactive way. Our proposed smart greenhouse can be implemented both vertically and horizontally, only by changing the design, so it is highly extensible and can be easily replicated in real-life contexts. Implementing such a project means that we would be able to learn how to produce 100 times more food than the regular farming. Consequently, the proposed learning instrument could have a very high impact on increasing quality of life.