Diana Andone | Politehnica University of Timisoara (original) (raw)

Papers by Diana Andone

Each year a considerable amount of money is spent on the production of several national and inter... more Each year a considerable amount of money is spent on the production of several national and international University rankings that may deeply influence the students’ enrollment. However, all such rankings are based almost exclusively on numerical indicators weakly related to the quality of the learning process and do not consider the perceptions of the “end users”: the learners. Recently, as part of the activity promoted by the Observatory on the Smart City Learning, we have produced an alternative approach to benchmark the learning ecosystems based on the satisfaction of the needs described by the Maslow’s Pyramid and on the achievement of the state of “flow” by the actors involved in the learning processes. Here we report on the first validation of such a benchmarking approach that has been tested in six European Campuses involving more than 800 students. The critical analysis of the outcomes allowed us, among other results, to identify the set of the most relevant indicators out ...

In this paper the methodology and the development of e-tasters is presented. A wide range of ODL ... more In this paper the methodology and the development of e-tasters is presented. A wide range of ODL (Opening and Distance Learning) actors from EU and CEE countries, partners in the EU Socrates Minerva ‘e-Tasters’ project focus on developing an innovative approach for enhancing international e-learning course development and delivery.

The main purpose of the TAFCITY course is to assist international cooperation in Age Friendly Cit... more The main purpose of the TAFCITY course is to assist international cooperation in Age Friendly City development by using elearning, social media and open source applications. The Course is based on the ViCaDiS online learning environments. The course is a co-operation between different stakeholders from European Union to develop a common online learning environment enhanced with web 2.0 tools. It presents also the pilot of this course. The paper grounds also the research on an analysis of how the 65+ generation use the technology and how this affects their life as part of Age Friendly City Network.

Engineering education is a field of higher education that requires a broad range of practical ski... more Engineering education is a field of higher education that requires a broad range of practical skills to be offered to the students . The university curricula always involve some periods of work placements in companies, in order to allow students to get the real work experience in fields where they might practice after graduation. Many times, the physical realisation of such work placements is quite difficult due to different factors: mismatch between the schedule of the work placements in the university curricula and the companies' availability, lack of possibility to host many students (especially at the beginning of their student live -characterised by a lack of basic knowledge), lack of supervision personnel inside companies etc.

The higher education system in Romania has seen a series of transformations which reflect Europea... more The higher education system in Romania has seen a series of transformations which reflect European tendencies but also the growth of the Romanian economy. These changes affect also Distance Education, a growing method for delivering several specializations, as off-campus solutions. Several EU programmes aims to support the development of European dimensions in Higher education – however the majority of initiatives remains at temporary, project levels. E-learning has become the mainstream of education in the majority of EU countries and shows dynamic development in Central and Eastern European countries as well. The “Politehnica” University of Timisoara is at the avant-garde of these changes and promotes innovation in education, and eLearning is seen as a further step in the high-education delivery. The EU Socrates Erasmus programme International Master in Multimedia seeks the development of the academic curricula of an international, online master programme delivered by a joint part...

The paper presents the methodology of the METOIM "MEasure TO IMprove: how European Labour Un... more The paper presents the methodology of the METOIM "MEasure TO IMprove: how European Labour Union associations and firms can better improve through self-evaluation" Web Tool for improving the employment chances of EU citizens, as part of the lifelong learning policy of equal opportunities.

Started in 2008 and gathering momentum over the past two years, now an online phenomenon, MOOCs (... more Started in 2008 and gathering momentum over the past two years, now an online phenomenon, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) reunite different perspectives over a globalized online learning. The ‘pure’ and initial ones integrate the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources. The others are based on online LMS’s where “open” students, can join in some or all of the course activities, which might include watching videos, posting on discussion boards and blogs, and commenting via social media platforms or on chat rooms. Widely it is accepted that MOOCs are disruptive – by their very nature they tell a different narrative to that of the traditional university. But all major players in the higher education field have initiated, created or joined a MOOC in the last years. The most successful ones are in widely used languages as English, Spanish or German. Four universities from...

Each year a considerable amount of money is spent on the production of several national and inter... more Each year a considerable amount of money is spent on the production of several national and international University rankings that may deeply influence the students’ enrollment. However, all such rankings are based almost exclusively on numerical indicators weakly related to the quality of the learning process and do not consider the perceptions of the “end users”: the learners. Recently, as part of the activity promoted by the Observatory on the Smart City Learning, we have produced an alternative approach to benchmark the learning ecosystems based on the satisfaction of the needs described by the Maslow’s Pyramid and on the achievement of the state of “flow” by the actors involved in the learning processes. Here we report on the first validation of such a benchmarking approach that has been tested in six European Campuses involving more than 800 students. The critical analysis of the outcomes allowed us, among other results, to identify the set of the most relevant indicators out ...

In this paper the methodology and the development of e-tasters is presented. A wide range of ODL ... more In this paper the methodology and the development of e-tasters is presented. A wide range of ODL (Opening and Distance Learning) actors from EU and CEE countries, partners in the EU Socrates Minerva ‘e-Tasters’ project focus on developing an innovative approach for enhancing international e-learning course development and delivery.

The main purpose of the TAFCITY course is to assist international cooperation in Age Friendly Cit... more The main purpose of the TAFCITY course is to assist international cooperation in Age Friendly City development by using elearning, social media and open source applications. The Course is based on the ViCaDiS online learning environments. The course is a co-operation between different stakeholders from European Union to develop a common online learning environment enhanced with web 2.0 tools. It presents also the pilot of this course. The paper grounds also the research on an analysis of how the 65+ generation use the technology and how this affects their life as part of Age Friendly City Network.

Engineering education is a field of higher education that requires a broad range of practical ski... more Engineering education is a field of higher education that requires a broad range of practical skills to be offered to the students . The university curricula always involve some periods of work placements in companies, in order to allow students to get the real work experience in fields where they might practice after graduation. Many times, the physical realisation of such work placements is quite difficult due to different factors: mismatch between the schedule of the work placements in the university curricula and the companies' availability, lack of possibility to host many students (especially at the beginning of their student live -characterised by a lack of basic knowledge), lack of supervision personnel inside companies etc.

The higher education system in Romania has seen a series of transformations which reflect Europea... more The higher education system in Romania has seen a series of transformations which reflect European tendencies but also the growth of the Romanian economy. These changes affect also Distance Education, a growing method for delivering several specializations, as off-campus solutions. Several EU programmes aims to support the development of European dimensions in Higher education – however the majority of initiatives remains at temporary, project levels. E-learning has become the mainstream of education in the majority of EU countries and shows dynamic development in Central and Eastern European countries as well. The “Politehnica” University of Timisoara is at the avant-garde of these changes and promotes innovation in education, and eLearning is seen as a further step in the high-education delivery. The EU Socrates Erasmus programme International Master in Multimedia seeks the development of the academic curricula of an international, online master programme delivered by a joint part...

The paper presents the methodology of the METOIM "MEasure TO IMprove: how European Labour Un... more The paper presents the methodology of the METOIM "MEasure TO IMprove: how European Labour Union associations and firms can better improve through self-evaluation" Web Tool for improving the employment chances of EU citizens, as part of the lifelong learning policy of equal opportunities.

Started in 2008 and gathering momentum over the past two years, now an online phenomenon, MOOCs (... more Started in 2008 and gathering momentum over the past two years, now an online phenomenon, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) reunite different perspectives over a globalized online learning. The ‘pure’ and initial ones integrate the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of study, and a collection of freely accessible online resources. The others are based on online LMS’s where “open” students, can join in some or all of the course activities, which might include watching videos, posting on discussion boards and blogs, and commenting via social media platforms or on chat rooms. Widely it is accepted that MOOCs are disruptive – by their very nature they tell a different narrative to that of the traditional university. But all major players in the higher education field have initiated, created or joined a MOOC in the last years. The most successful ones are in widely used languages as English, Spanish or German. Four universities from...