bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SIMULATION GAMES IN THE STUDENTS LEARNING PROCESS
Authors: Tita Carmen , Tita Silviu mihail
Published: February 2023

This article discusses the effects of simulation games in the education of students and the skills and abilities that they obtained after participating in discipline-based on the online or outline simulation programs. These applications may be individual or components software of e-learning platforms. Games-based learning has captured the interest of educationalists and industrialists who seek to exploit the characteristics of computer games as they are perceived by some to be a potentially effective approach for teaching and learning. The type of the activity to the students in enhancing cooperation and constructing higher responsibility is games. A simple game can be able to improve cooperation and social ability of the member; to practice communication; and to improve emotional management. One more this simulation games can development leadership style of the participants. This research shows a link between the effects of simulation programs and performance of the simulation game. Simulating various aspects of professional environment and real industrial processes, allows to train students apply the obtained theoretical knowledge and solve problems emerging in their professional activity. For the design of educational games, the results suggest that the challenge of the game should be able to keep up with the learners growing abilities and learning in order to endorse continued learning in game-based learning environments. The link between students developmental (formative) assessment opportunities over the course of the simulation, explaining assessment criteria and ways that students can improve their performance, requiring students to undertake reflection on their learning and outcomes, and ensuring that higher order thinking skills are engaged.
COMPUTER TRAINING IN THE STUDY OF ELEMENTARY LOGIC GATES -BLENDED LEARNING METHODOLOGY USED IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET) DISCIPLINE-
Authors: Horlescu Gabrielabrandusa , Salaru Constanta
Published: February 2023

The development of computing and computer networks and the emergence of new software programs have contributed to the entrence of information and communication technology in education.
This paper deals with a topical issue of modern education like the integration of eLearning in the lessons.
We approached theoretical and practical applications used to study elementary logic gates.
The paper highlights the role of eLearning in digital electronic circuit simulation, to improve the quality of the educational process.
To provide attractive lesson to the students from technical profile - electronics and automation domein-, students who study in highschool "Basics of digital electronics" module, we created a system of lessons and an electronic course support for the study of logic gates.
We wanted to develop student's both abilities, one covered by this module "The use of logic integrated circuits (Ics)" and other one to develop student's computer skills.
Structured as a website developed using HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the course covers:
-theoretical knowledge about basic logic gates: AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR (symbols, the logic function associated, truth table);
-the implementation of logic functions with logic gates;
-videos with practical works made with the educational kit NX-100plus and with Junior Digital Circuit experiment board;
-the interconection of logic integrated circuits, the test, verification and circuit simulation with the educational program "Circuit Maker";
- worksheets;
-assesment tests to verify the achievement skills;
-references for documentation and information.
For education and effective training it is required to use both: eLearning and Traditional educational methods.
COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS FOR THE PROTECTION OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES - COMPONENT OF EUROPEAN SECURITY STRATEGY
Authors: Mosoiu Ovidiu , Gherman Laurian , Balaceanu Ion
Published: February 2023

Identifying, analyzing, correlating and evaluating the dynamics of strategic critical infrastructure works closely with time evolution of society, which has generated and has boosted the development of large cities and economical objectives, always searching for new architectural solutions, both for the civilian constructions and for those with defensive character. Unlike security environment, specific previous stages of human development, the contemporary security environment is characterized by a multitude of hazards and risks, challenges, threats and vulnerabilities that have generated a greater impact concerning the vital elements of strategic critical infrastructure system. For this reason, the protection, the safety and the security of strategic critical infrastructure, will represent, also in the future, a priority area for all countries, organizations and international bodies. Creating a collaborative system for the protection of critical infrastructure has become an important concern of all states and a reference chapter of their security strategy. At European level in line with the directive 2008/114/CE of the Board, from december, 8th, 2008, concerning identification and designation of critical infrastructures, the productivity of strategic critical infrastructure protection system involved developing a timeline plan to ensure the functionality, continuity and integrity of critical infrastructures, in order to discourage, decrease and neutralize specific threats, risks and vulnerabilities. At national level, according to the National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure Protection 2011, such targets can be achieved only through collaboration, cooperation and partnership in interdisciplinary system, based on strategies, techniques, tactics and uniform procedures, large-scaleed, which, in turn can facilitate the development of concrete actions and measures of protection, timely and effective. In this article we want to detail the main aspects of the strategic critical infrastructure, in a hybrid security environment pointed by the risks, threats and vulnerabilities that require collaborative systems between protection institutions of critical infrastructure and joint efforts by all the national responsible, in line with European democratic structures, measures and guidelines.
THE USE OF LOW-COST SOFTWARE IN SEARCH AND RESCUE TRAINING COURSES FOR MARITIME STUDENTS
Authors: Toma Alecu , Bautu Andrei , Atodiresei Dinu vasile
Published: February 2023

According to International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers (STCW), adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), maritime officers must be trained in the field of search and rescue (SAR) operations and ship handling under distress situations. Providing the required competences for maritime students can only be done by both theoretical education and practical training. For the later, providers of maritime education for officers rely of simulators which are most of the time very expensive. The number of seats and the time students can spend inside the simulators is also limited. In this paper, we provide a critical review of a low-cost gaming software with respect to regulations on SAR operation and ship handling. To this end, we study the search and rescue simulation capabilities of the Maritime Search and Rescue Ship Simulator with respect to the SAR and ship handling curricula at the “Mircea cel Batran” Naval Academy. We analyze which subjects from the maritime navigation study program can be covered by the game and how the competences can be gained through individual gaming. The Maritime Search and Rescue Ship Simulator is a PC compatible game that was developed by a partnership between game software companies (Reality Twist and Rondomedia) and German SAR services (Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Bremen and German Maritime Search and Rescue Service). The game can be used to complement the students training according with their individual needs. The advantage of such games is that they can be installed on personal computers and used for training by students in their study time.
VIDEO GAMES IN THE XXIST CENTURY
Authors: Gaitanaru Andrei
Published: February 2023

It may be said that the video games are a topical form of socio-cultural manifestation, because they make available to its public the means necessary for the inter-cultural and international communication (efficient communication channels and favorable social context), which then facilitate the appearance of new communities. These elements are worthy of being considered by the social sciences and also by the communication sciences, because communities of this kind are more numerous and more complex. They evolve along with the Internet as well as other types of modern media depending on the technological progress. Video games (the games developed for desktop systems and portable devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones) have become a significant industry for the XXIst century due to the fact that in time they have constantly evolved and have managed to impose in the present time dominant media cultures. Along with their appearance numerous questions have surfaced regarding the impact of games on society, on the social environment, and also questions regarding the interactive processes and active audiences. Same as all the other new media, the video games, in their evolution, have borrowed elements and have adapted to the socio-cultural variety. The gaming industry was mainly shaped around the techno culture, our contemporary society being saturated by technology . Just like all the other histories, the video games history has been challenged in its turn by the specialists in the field. Seen in the most general way, the history is created and transmitted by people, who are being subjective most of the times. Considering these factors, it's clear that the history of video games is also comprised of a variety of fragmented information, which was and is being challenged to some extent. However, it is certain that the history of the Internet as well as the history of video games, are complex histories, that have developed depending on the technological context and evolution
THE ADVANTAGES OF USING CLOUD COMPUTING IN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Authors: Marin Dramnescu , Enachescu Vladimir
Published: February 2023

Cloud services are understood and analyzed more technical perspective, and less in terms of benefits and changes that can bring them this new model for education. Current technology trends indicate that the future of the web will be oriented towards Cloud technologies. Cloud will be provided "as a service" and the Internet of the future will be a tight connection between humans, electronic devices and services. CWS concept (Cloud-based Web Services) describes a platform that connects multiple data storage centers and generate new ways to unify distributed web services. For this reason, the CWS is an essential part of the Cloud environment. In this context, Cloud computing is a modern computerized infrastructure that facilitates rapid provision of resources required. From this perspective, the Cloud platform has changed the way of development and execution of applications in the educational environment. Because the distribution of an application or information or a very fast course, the environment offered by cloud it is understood as a service provider platform (PaaS -Platform as a Service). Using services Clod can be created Centre of shared services at the university, which improves the quality of the educational process (digital content, e-learning, educational hands-on, on demand, training customized, flexible, knowledge management or management route of instruction). Cloud computing enables applications to run without having to infrastructure or constant updates, thus providing effective valid or innovative solutions. The educational environment creates their own applications using tools and libraries provided by the Cloud provider, setting up their development and application, while the service provider provides infrastructure and manages the infrastructure. Cloud computing enables applications to run without having to infrastructure or constant updates, thus providing effective valid or innovative solutions. The educational environment creates their own applications using tools and libraries provided by the Cloud provider, setting up their development and application, while the service provider provides infrastructure and manages the infrastructure.
BLENDED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION - A ROMANIAN STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Felea Mihai , Dobrea Mihaela , Albastroiu Irina
Published: February 2023

System of higher education is under permanent development and blended learning is a format rapidly spreading in academic area around the world. Increasing numbers of universities are adopting blended learning because it integrates traditional face-to-face with online learning. Blended learning offers opportunities to incorporate different resources like books, multimedia files, web pages and innovative learning activities. Interactive assignment, chat and forum, quiz, survey, workshop and social networking are examples of activities that teachers can include in their courses. On the other side, online learning tools can be expensive and unacceptable for some of the teachers and students who resist to change or afraid of new technology. With the rapid development and wide application of e-learning, online and in-class teaching methods enhances each other and offers many benefits for students and teachers. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the advantages and applicability of the blended learning in higher education sector by reviewing the relevant literature, and then to investigates students’ perceptions and attitudes towards blended learning tools used by The Bucharest University of Economic Studies. An exploratory research based on questionnaire was conducted among the students from the Faculty of Business and Tourism. Results of the research showed that the students have positive attitudes towards blended learning. The findings also indicated that blended learning tools do enhance students’ learning experiences and learning outcomes. Based on these results, suggestions for future research directions and recommendations for both students and teachers interested to combine face-to-face and online learning were formulated.
TEACHING AND LEARNING WITH CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES - DDLUB BEST PRACTICES
Authors: Logofatu Bogdan , Logofatu Michaela , Visan Andreea maria , Burdescu Dan dumitru
Published: February 2023

The authors of this article have major contributions to the implementation and the efficient use of the cloud technologies within DDLUB. DDLUB is an acronym associated with the Distance Learning Department, founded in 1999 through the University of Bucharest Senate's Decision. During the last 18 years, the DDLUB was focused on: (1) DL (Distance Learning) study programs (design, accreditation, implementation, development); (2) the efficient use of digital technologies in education. That is why the central theme of the eLSE'2017 conference ("Could technology support learning efficiency?") is very exciting for the authors! In brief, the key points are to communicate and to collaborate with students and teachers through electronic platforms, in the cloud. This article is organised into 4 chapters. Chapter 1 will give a general review of cloud computing concept and will present the digital technology services usually provided in the “cloud”. Chapter 2 will include a number of initiatives and projects promoted by the authors; those projects demonstrate interest and concern of the authors in promoting digital technologies in education (continuously, during the last 25 years!). Chapter 3 - Starting with 2010, the authors developed projects including cloud computing /technologies especially those related to Google and other electronic platforms. The authors develop their activities in the academic institutions where the communication and collaboration between students and teachers are crucial; the authors have used efficiently cloud technologies like Gmail, Google Classroom, Google Drive etc. Chapter 4 includes authors' conclusions and recommendations for decision makers in the domain of education.
ACCEPTANCE AMONG ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TOWARDS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ESKL COURSE THROUGH MULTIMEDIA LEARNING
Authors: Mohamad Mariam , Sharuddin Noor husna
Published: February 2023

This study aims to measure the level of acceptance on the mode of teaching used in the course of Sistem Elektonik Semakan Kesalahan Lampau (ESKL) or Past Error Review System to enforcement officers. Interactive multimedia instruction consisting of interactive video, softcopy reference material is loaded into the CD and the conventional mode are printed reference materials and distributed to all participants of the ESKL courses. A total of 100 enforcement officers selected in the course ESKL. While 47% of employees aged 25 to 34 years (Generation X) and 53% of employees aged 35 to 45 years and above (Generation Y). This study is a quantitative correlation with the questionnaire as a research instrument. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 2.2. Method Correlation Pearson's Coefficient and Multiple Linear Regression was used to test the hypotheses of the study. The findings show for the question one until four, that was have four independent variables where is performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and perceived value added and the dependent variable is behavioral intention in teaching dual mode materials through correlation coefficient is having a positive significant 0.842 while multiple linear regression is 0.341. Next is findings for question fifth until eight, which is the study of the relationship between acceptance of the independent variables and the age of the dual mode of teaching materials also have a positive significant relationship. Where participants from generation X were 47% and generation Y is about 53% are involved. Through the Correlation Pearson's Coefficient produce findings is 0.764 generation X and generation Y is 0.833. This means, samples of both generations X and Y have a significant relationship to acceptance a dual mode of teaching material during the course of the ESKL was conducted. This study is in line with generation X wherein Y generation is not left behind in interactive multimedia which is growing rapidly in line with the latest technology and almost all aspects of human life.
MONITORING STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN SOCIAL NETWORKING
Authors: Susnea Elena
Published: February 2023

Lately, more and more academic publications have presented case studies that highlight the benefits of using social networking sites in education; only a few of them show the limitations of these sites. In this paper we discuss new trends in monitoring student activities in the e-learning environment in order to supply teachers and educational managers with relevant information in relation to learning and teaching. The e-learning platforms have become a significant repository of educational data and information that is of special importance to teachers and educational managers. Turning this data and information into knowledge in order to improve learning and teaching activities depends directly on the choice and use of the appropriate techniques to collect, organise, combine and analyse educational data of different types or from different sources. We shall analyse the educational data and information existing on e-learning platforms and social networking from three perspectives: first, the development of e-learning platforms in which the number of enrolled students continues to increase; second, the increasing volume and variety of data generated on social networking and e-learning platforms; and third, new data techniques for monitoring student activities in e-learning environment.
IT'S REALLY FACEBOOK AN E-LEARNING INSTRUMENT?
Authors: Dina Razvan , Dobrea Mihaela , Onete Bogdan cristian
Published: February 2023

Due to the technological development and the involvement of information technology in the establishment and maintenance of human relations, educational system must adapt to the new trends. Teaching practices, the way in which knowledge is being transferred, the channels through which information is transmitted to students, have known fundamental transformations thanks to the development of information and communications technology. The use of eLearning platforms is already perceived as a traditional method of learning. At the same time, n the one hand, the need to transfer knowledge to as many students as possible was partially solved by the development of Massive open online course (MOOC) concept, and implicitly of MOOC's platforms. On the other hand, students and teachers can more easily interact online through Facebook, on subjects such as assignments, new subjects, important links, the social network being a facilitator of exploration for students, bringing to light a better collaboration in the search for answers, circumstances and clarifications. According to comScorec, people spent more than 14% of time reading feeds and posting on Facebook. Because of that, we think that Facebook can become an important learning tool for the educational process. In order to test and confirm our theory, an experiment was conducted among a group of students which study logistics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Faculty of Business and Tourism. In this respect, a closed Facebook group (LogIQ) was created, where were invited the students part of the focus group in the hereby research. Brief materials presenting a concept or a technique used in logistics were posted from time to time, during a whole month, and the students were encouraged to Like the information is relevant for them. At the end of the period the impact of the posts as far as knowledge acquisition is concerned, was evaluated.
EVOIPEAZY: ELEARNING TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING ADVANCED VOIP CONCEPTS
Authors: Duta Cristinaloredana , Baciu Alexandruion , Ruse Laura , Tapus Nicolae
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, due to the rapid development of technology, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become very popular and has been rapidly adopted by consumers, enterprises, governments and militaries. The main advantages of this technology are more features, higher flexibility and lower costs than traditional telephony infrastructure. However, VoIP systems are very complex in terms of protocols, architecture and implementation and very often this leads to misuse. In this context, we present in this paper a new eLearning tool, called eVoIPeazy, for students, teachers, developers and other users that are interested in understanding advanced VoIP concepts. Our instrument provides detailed information about VoIP elements such as analog and digital interfaces, numbering, gateways and protocols. Moreover, because requirements such as Quality of Service and security are very important taking into consideration the usage of VoIP in home and business environments, our tool describes the quality and security issues and offers several solutions for addressing these requirements. Further on, we provide a comparison between some of the most used applications that are based on VoIP. Also, the framework provides a separate module that includes details for the user about the possibility to implement their own VoIP applications. In this context, users can learn from the beginning all necessary notions regarding VoIP and its usage and can analyze the advantages and disadvantages of already existing solutions (use some of them in their own projects). eVoIPeazy is an easy-to-use tool, which offers the possibility to learn and fully understand the fundamentals of VoIP and how to easily deploy it in real-life applications.
USING VPYTHON PROGRAMMING FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING AND PROBLEM SOLVING
Authors: Marciuc Daly , Miron Cristina
Published: February 2023

Mastering of the mathematical tools is essential for an in-depth understanding of Science. By building mathematical models and the associated computer simulations, students can understand the physical theories that explain various phenomena. The VPython programming language provides a favourable environment for effective and comprehensive learning activities. The computer models created by students form a bridge between the two fundamental components in the study of physics: the theory and the experiment. In this paper we present how we used the VPython programming language to explain the phenomenon of multiple reflections in two intersected plane mirrors. We followed the simultaneous development of students' skills in three areas: applying mathematical knowledge to solve a real-world problem, applying the principles of Physics to understand an optical phenomenon, and the ability to use the tools of information technology to verify and validate, by visualisation, the achieved mathematical reasoning. The applet generated with VPython allows viewing of the images of a point-like object in the two concurrent mirrors, showing their localization on the extensions of a successively reflected ray. The construction of VPython simulation was performed after the students had determined the number of images and after they had calculated their polar coordinates, assisted by the GeoGebra software. The representation of a successively reflected ray was not possible with GeoGebra, due to the limitations of the software in the use of a repetitive structure. The impediment was overcome by using the VPython programming language. The learning activity we present here is interdisciplinary, creating a correlation between knowledge acquired by students at three different school subjects: Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science. The outcome is the generation of a computer simulation of the phenomenon, based on the mathematical model built by the students.
CURRENT TRENDS IN THE USE OF ICT IN TEACHING. CASE STUDY - BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
Authors: Paduraru Monica elisabeta , Mihaila Alexandru robert
Published: February 2023

Nowadays, the evolution of technology directly influences the daily life in all its aspects - from the way we follow the latest events to the way we communicate with other people. It’s a common fact that students use technology at home, for entertainment and more and more for educational activities. Inevitably, these influences are felt even in teaching activities. In present-day, education and school gave up the idea of the existence of an absolute and universal method, claiming a flexible, adaptable, and efficient methodology. Thus, taking into account the impact of technological evolution on the educational environment, efficient use of ICT can lead to an increased quality of education. Knowledge-based information society requires the use of technology as a benchmark of substantive changes in educational systems, this by itself attracting a number of challenges among both teachers and students. Starting with the set of digital literacy that each teacher must have in order to effectively use ICT resources, and continuing with their ability to harmonize classical forms of teaching-learning-assessment with modern technology, we can emphasize from the very beginning the importance of teachers' training in this regard. Thus, educational actors must be prepared to use effectively the resources generated by technological advances for increasing the quality of educational act. To what extent can we use these resources in teaching? What are the most effective technologies and tools used in teaching, learning and assessment? What are the limits, advantages, disadvantages and trends in using ICT? These are just some of the questions this article attempts to answer.
'THEORY OF INVENTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING' (TRIZ) METHODOLOGY APPLIED IN ELEARNING PROCESS
Authors: Petropolserb Gabrieladana , Petropolserb Ion
Published: February 2023

The paper proposes a conceptual design to organize the scenario of the creative activity of students. The activity is based on active-participative methods in eLearning environment. The area of topics is ‘Smart Products Development’. The general objective of the scenario is to build up to students the capabilities to understand and apply the creative thinking to develop a smart product. As specific objectives of this activity could be those aimed to obtain the abilities to explore and apply different techniques to generate ideas; to learn to turn ideas in a project and find opportunity to implement the project. The TRIZ methodology (‘Theory of Inventive Problem Solving’) was chosen to generate ideas. The professional competences of this activity are: students learn to define the problems, understand and deduce the influence of all contextual factors of a particular design challenge or need for the project; elaborate ideas, organize those ideas and refine the potential solutions for real life; try to work through all technical and non technical issues to generate solutions; apply the financial and business models to predict the impact of smart product developed. As transversal skills, the purpose of this scenario is to encourage the students to identify and act in accordance with the norms of professional ethics and deontology; identify the roles and the responsibilities in a multidisciplinary team; apply efficient the techniques and the working relationships within the team and to use efficient the information source and the communication resources (e-learning platforms, Internet, software application, data bases on line courses, etc.). The success of implementing this scenario is assured by the environment of the learning activity. A great attention must be given to design the eLearning platforms. The topic of these platforms regards: the creative and design thinking, smart products and materials, smart manufacturing process, integral process engineering for a smart production, products life cycle, cost engineering system, etc. As a final result, the scenario could be applied on different subjects included in area of smart products.
TOWARDS THE ENHANCEMENT OF AGLOS WITH SCORM AND XAPI
Authors: Chirila Ciprianbogdan
Published: February 2023

Generative learning objects (GLO) are considered the second generation learning objects. They represent reusable pedagogical patterns instantiable with different content. Auto-generative learning objects (AGLOs) are reusable patterns filled in with generated content obtained by meta‑programing and the use of random numbers to enable content diversity. Static content currently present in most of the Learning Management Systems (LMS), MOOCs etc. and there is the time for dynamic content models due to the web technology present in almost all gadgets the student use: laptops, tablets, mobile phones, watches etc. SCORM is a set of interoperability standards for the e‑learning objects in the context of LMSs. It is not related to instructional design or pedagogical concerns. Nowadays SCORM is considered obsolete because of the new standards of xAPI a.k.a. Tin Can API. With xAPI the learning experience is stored based on the "I did this" paradigm. So the student will not get a consolidated final mark where you will not be able to see its components but will have individual subject-action-object based records where its progress can be monitored and learning adjusted according to needs. In this context the AGLOs will be able to adopt this standard based on the competence tree model used in their organization. Recipes have been created for the organization and redundancy avoidance reasons of subjects, actions and objects. We will extract the verbs and objects from the competence tree model and to research the potential for the automation of the process. The approach will be experimented on the data structures and algorithms discipline competence tree developed in earlier research projects.
TECHNOLOGY USE AND THE NEEDS OF LEARNERS
Authors: Pepler Giles
Published: February 2023

The three UK Jisc digital student studies have explored the technology use and needs of learners in higher and further education and the skills sector. This paper focuses largely on the needs of learners in apprenticeships, adult and community learning and prisons. In these sectors the range of learners is very broad, with ages ranging from 16 to 90, with a multiplicity of reasons for learning and great diversity in the technology knowledge and experience that they bring to the table. The aim has been to investigate learners' expectations and experiences of the digital environment, in order to make recommendations on the services that could be provided to support learners' use of technology. There are three main strands to this research: a review of the relevant existing literature; primary research with learners through questionnaires and facilitated focus groups; and consultation events with learning providers and learners. The recommendations include: (1) Recognise the wide diversity of technology experiences and skills that even an apparently homogeneous group of learners may bring to their studies; (2) Engage learners in a dialogue about their digital experiences and empower them to make changes; (3) Provide a robust, flexible digital environment; (4) Meet learners' expectations with effective wifi, a robust VLE, up to date hardware and software and accessible printers; (5) Deliver a relevant digital curriculum; (6) Provide support and incentives for teachers to integrate digital resources into their teaching; (7) Engage with accreditation bodies to allow the use of technology in formative and summative assessment and other innovative approaches to teaching.
HOW THE POTENTIAL OF ICT IS INTEGRATED IN COUNSELLING AND GUIDANCE THROUGHOUT ROMANIA
Authors: Andrei Angela , Scoda Andreea diana
Published: February 2023

The present article analysis the results obtained from a national survey, conducted by the Institute of Educational Sciences in October 2015. The purpose of this survey was to provide an overview of the activity of the County Psycho-pedagogical Assistance Centres (CPPAC) in pre-university education and the Career Counselling and Guidance Centres (CCGC) in higher education. The design of the paper looks into data collected from counsellors and coordinators from different counselling centres regarding the following issues: the training needs of counsellors from pre-university education and from higher education in Romania; number of beneficiaries of counselling centres who benefited from ICT-based counselling and guidance; examples of educational projects on ICT-based counselling and guidance accomplished in the counselling centres at pre-university and university level and difficulties faced by counsellors in their daily professional activities. The discussion approaches important questions related to the following aspects: how ICT is used by the counselling services, if ICT training is sufficient for practitioners today, types of ICT based projects of guidance and counselling, either in schools or in universities. The paper foresees also a theoretical analysis on the basis that ICT is an essential tool for counsellors in any field of professional practice. The documentary analysis concerns the opportunity of using ICT resources, type of training provided for the counsellors working in the County Centres for Resources and Educational Assistance and in the Career Counselling and Guidance Centres and last but not least, the educational projects as support for their institutional development. The questionnaire survey is the main sociological method used on a sample of counsellors and coordinators of counselling centres at pre-university and university level, with the aim to extract relevant conclusions for readers (opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses) that resulted from the investigation.
INSIGHT TESTTOOLKIT - A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ONLINE APPROACH TO STUDENTS CAREER COUNSELING AND GUIDANCE
Authors: Ungureanu Elena
Published: February 2023

Making a career decision has always been a difficult task, requiring the integration of different individual and contextual information. Eighth graders, especially, transitioning from late childhood to early adolescence, may face indecision, confusion and lack of readiness for making a career decision. Consequently, middle-school students need individual career counseling and guidance, an optimizing intervention, focused on their particular problems. The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of using Insight TestToolkit, an online instrument for students’ career assessment and guidance, developed by AMN (Assess-Manage-Navigate), a leading software company that designs educational instruments. Being available on AMN Insight platform, from our practice, we consider this investigation tool to be complex, efficient and comprehensive as it provides multidimensional information about students, helping school counselors facilitate individual career counseling. The test addresses and measures several factors grouped in four categories: Capacity, Me, at school and at home, Big-Five Personality Test, School Guidance and Educational Counseling Questionnaire. One of the advantages of this test is that the scores at each category are compared to the mean of the group the student belongs to, as opposed to establishing a student’s position by comparison to a fixed score. The individual results are presented in a detailed report that contains explanatory graphic representation. Furthermore in this article, we explore the ways in which each category provides core information that comprise content-related assessments that attend to variables such as cognitive abilities, interests, personality traits, motivation for learning, attitude and satisfaction level regarding school and home environment. In the end, our review emphasizes the relevance of the information obtained, as well as the correlations among different types of data.
BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS IN SMART LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TO ENHANCE EMPLOYABILITY
Authors: Postelnicu Roxana , Dascalu Mariaiuliana , Trifan Elena laura , Lazarou Elisabeth , Bodea Constantanicoleta
Published: February 2023

Patterns are widely known as regular sequences of actions or schemes. We often see them in decorative designs such as wallpapers, ornaments, mosaics, but also in daily activities and work tasks adopted by individuals or groups in a given situation. But how could these patterns influence one’s employability? Since employment in European region doesn’t always work out smoothly and learners encounter difficulties in choosing or getting accepted into a working place, it would be helpful to give them a new tool for enhancing their employability based on behavioral patterns. The current paper is a survey of the specific patterns in smart learning environments with the purpose of identifying the optimal behavior for a learner to increase one’s employability, survey based on literature mining and on an online questionnaire. We propose an innovative model for connecting different learning types with behavioral patterns in order to provide the online learners the opportunity to discover their own pattern and the best ways to gain further knowledge and enhance employability. For the development of our solution we have made use of the “learning analytics” concept, which implied measuring, collecting, analyzing and reporting the data obtained from learning environments about learners and the choices they have made in the context of participating in our survey. This “learning analytics” concept allowed us to understand the participants’ way of learning and the environment in which it occurs, but also gave us the purpose of recommending ways of improving their way of learning such as to fulfill one’s objectives and increase one’s employability.
TRAINING BASED ON VIRTUAL SIMULATORS. CASE STUDY FOR IMPROVING PARKING SKILLS
Authors: Muoh Uzoma nicholas , Abdulkarim Imad , Rosu Stefan octavian , Dascalu Mariaiuliana , Stanica Iulia  cristina
Published: February 2023

There have been many research studies focusing on the use of virtual reality simulators in training students, medical personnel, soldiers, firefighters in various scenarios ranging from life threatening situations to recreational activities. The innovation in virtual reality simulators has transformed them into impactful and lucrative tools in training. This paper goes into discussion on the usage of some virtual reality simulators which can be successfully exploited in training activities. Also, a virtual reality simulator which can be used to improve one’s parking skills is proposed: the design, implementation and an experiment related to its case study. This application was devised using the Oculus VR headset and Unity 3D game engine so as to observe the effectiveness of these simulators for training. Therefore, in our project, individuals are put into a virtual world where they can practice and improve their car parking skills. The results of the validation experiment, as well as the technical aspects of how it was conducted and set up, will be discussed furthermore. In addition, an analysis on the different techniques used in this experiment to immerse the individual in the virtual world will be presented and compared to other virtual reality simulators.
INSTRCUTOR SOCIAL PRESENCE: A NEGLECTED COMPONENT OF THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY
Authors: Richardson Jennifer , Lowenthal Patrick
Published: February 2023

The Community of Inquiry framework posits that a meaningful educational experience consists of teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer intentionally labeled the act of direct instruction, facilitating discourse, and designing instruction as teaching presence instead of teacher presence. This was largely due to the fact that teachers are not the only one’s who engage in “teaching” activities in online courses. This nomenclature also supports the belief that ideal educational experiences are centered on learners and not teachers. As ideal as this is, it fails to highlight the unique role teachers play in online courses. There is an effective teacher behind every successful online course. Students are particularly interested in their teacher’s social presence (which we refer to as instructor social presence). We posit that the Community of Inquiry framework does not clearly articulate or validate this important aspect of communities of inquiry. Here we describe what instructor social presence is, explain its importance, highlight its role in the community of inquiry framework, and summarize research others have conducted on instructor social presence.
EXERCISING CRITICAL THINKING IN THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
Authors: Buluc Ruxandra
Published: February 2023

Critical thinking is a reflective mechanism that helps students to evaluate the information and knowledge that they acquire during classes or that they come into contact with in their everyday lives. Critical assessment aids students to ascertain the extent to which these concepts are relevant for and applicable to their lives, careers, purposes and personal experiences. Critical thinking requires students not solely to assimilate information but also to interact with it actively, to evaluate it, to understand whether or not it is accurate, to determine its role and the goal it may serve. Traditional classroom settings foster the development of critical thinking skills through interaction between students engaged in group activities as well as through careful prompting by the instructors. However, this traditional setting is no longer sufficient and does not assist students in developing these skills for the virtual world. This article suggests that the transfer of critical thinking skills to the online environment can be done in several ways in the e-learning process. The possible activities that incorporate these skills could be either individual (the student can interact with the problem or situation on his/her own) or they could be directed towards an already existing or newly formed learning community, in which students interact not only with the given task but also with each other and they stimulate each other to apply critical thinking skills. These types of interactive exercises could be adapted to suit the study domain of almost any student, since the formats are quite flexible and the instructor simply needs to incorporate the specific situation/case/scenario.
TOWARDS AN ACCESSIBLE RESPONSE SYSTEM
Authors: Pein Raoul pascal , Stoica George adrian
Published: February 2023

For many years, audience response systems have been used successfully for educational purposes. Systems with varying capabilities can be found. While some tools are focusing on multiple-choice, others support more complex question types or even running short assessments. At the same time, the inclusion of disabled students into regular classes is being promoted. While some systems provide solutions to improve accessibility, they may still be too expensive or not versatile enough to be used on a regular basis This paper presents a feasibility study to improve accessibility based on a readily available response system. It is investigated what changes are possible increase the handling for visually impaired students beyond the mere basics. The focus lies on the process of collecting responses by the audience and the subsequent follow-up discussion with the result summary presented by the teacher. For this study the “iLike” response system has been chosen due to its flexibility and wide range of available question types. Being a tool especially for language classes, it not only offers support for “multiple choice” and “free text” answers but also advanced question types such as “ordering words” and “tag words”. The “tag words” type allows the teacher to send an entire sentence or paragraph to the student clients. The students then select any amount of the words from the text as their answer. For each of the available question types, this paper presents at least one screen reader compatible design for both the response form as well as the summary page to be processed on the student devices. The contents are specifically optimized for efficient screen reader use.
BUIDING AN UNDERGRADUATE COURSE IN DATA-DRIVEN METHODOLOGIES
Authors: Albeanu Grigore
Published: February 2023

A data specialist is an emerging professional profile oriented towards collection, filtering, analysis, visualization, management and preservation of huge collections of information. Even some tasks of database managers, computer programmers, or statistical data analysers are common for a "data scientist", many other skills are required. A data scientist should be, as possible as, a quantitative analyst, a data management expert, and should have a solid foundation in math, statistics, probability, and computer science and strong social skills. This paper describes the architecture of an undergraduate course in data-driven methodologies, an advanced one, making use of fundamental knowledge and introducing new topics coming from cloud development and big data processing. The following tracks are considered: data management, data analytics and pattern discovery, modern data bases and distributed systems, mathematics and statistical software packages, econometry and quantitative finance, operational research, computational social science, social network and graph analysis, soft computing based decision making, data analysis fields, data science open source tools etc. Twelve chapters will address the planned content based on demonstrative projects using Hadoop, MapReduce, R, and Python packages. The allocated time is 56 hours, with 28 hours of lectures. Also, the data scientist profession is defined according to the market reaction. To fulfil the objective, various open resources are identified and linked to a digital front-end of the course. In conclusion, the aim of the project is to offer such a course in a blended manner, in order to create the need for a professional master program in data science.