Digital University - Issues and Trends in Romanian Higher Education (original) (raw)
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Digitalization in the Romanian Higher Education in the Present Digital Era
Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientific and Practical Conference “Modern Management Trends and the Digital Economy: from Regional Development to Global Economic Growth” (MTDE 2020), 2020
The present challenge of the higher education system of Romania is the digital transformation, an action permanently preoccupying the government who is trying to find modern solutions to turn into practice the action domains foreseen by the National Strategy for the Digital Agenda, Romania 2020. Higher education digitalization is a transforming process influencing substantially all the higher education institutions' activities, from the development of new infrastructures, use of digital technologies for teaching and learning, research, support services, administration and communication, up to the students' and teaching personnel's need to develop new digital skills useful at present and future workplaces. In this context, the goal of this paper is to highlight by a theoretical approach the present situation of the Romanian higher education in the context of the digitalization phenomenon of the new digital era.
Journal of e-learning & higher education, 2022
Romanian undergraduate education system has undergone radical changes in the area of digitalization during the last years. Both Romanian authorities and private stakeholders contributed to this transformation. This paper has the goal to present an extensive overview of the most important measures in terms of digitalization that led to the system as it stands today. The research will divide the 32-year period of the post-communist regime in two distinct parts: the period before the COVID-19 pandemic arose (1990-2020) and the period during and after the pandemic (2020-2022). The paper will cover the public and private projects that were implemented in order to improve the level of technology integration and pupils' development of digital skills. This study proved that digitalization has always been treated with priority by Romanian decision makers. Nevertheless, the number of implemented initiatives has not been enough for a complete and sustainable technologization of the system. The sudden shift from a face-to-face approach to a complete online one during the pandemic has shown the unpreparedness of the Romanian education system. This shift was extremely difficult both for pupils and teachers. Overall, the contribution of this study to the literature consists in the systematic overview of the main initiatives provided by public authorities and private stakeholders for the modernization of Romanian education. Moreover, the paper captures authorities' attitude towards the process of technologization of the undergraduate education system.
The Digital Turn in Higher Education: A Try to demystify the Myth of the “Digital Natives”
International Journal of Research in English Education, 2019
Digital technology has recently become a ubiquitous feature of the modern era posing problems to higher education institutions. Digitization of the academic life has brought forth the claims that there is an evident disparity between the digital naturals and digital immigrants and that the myth of the former is "undemystifiable." The claim that the new digitized generation has its own distinguished learning preferences, skills of learning and beliefs about learning should make higher education authorities revisit their curricula and "reshuffle the academic cards" so that the digital immigrants could catch up with the fast-running pace of the digitized train and provide the digital natives with what they need for a successful academic life. The overall aim of the present work therefore is to investigate the extent to which the so-called digital natives really have control of the use of educational technology either as part of their self-directed learning practices or as part of formal tertiary teaching, the type of technologies they prefer to use, whether they possess the required digital skills that are important for their future careers, and how vital the digital skills are in boosting their employability. A questionnaire survey was used for doing the objectives of this study. 218 students participated in this study and completed the questionnaire. Then the data were collected and analyzed through frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The findings of the present study indicated that the media change under the created discourse of "moral panic" has unveiled the singularity of this generation and has forced academic authorities to reconsider learning, teaching as well as both skills and employability of such a generation for a better academic higher education system.
The Impact of Digital Innovation on Education in Romanian Education
2020
Due to the accelerated pace of information and communication technology developments, the digital society and the digital economy have become real and, in turn, pose specific challenges. In this environment, digital skills and competences are essential to achieve the professional success and personal development of any individual. The positive impact that information and communication technology has on education cannot be disputed, but there are also some obstacles that need to be overcome in order to make the most of these benefits. An essential aspect to consider is that technology has repercussions not only on pupils and students, but also on teachers, who must adapt and acquire the knowledge necessary to disseminate information. Having as the main objective of reflecting the impact of digitalization on the educational sector, the paper highlights the basic concepts in the field of digital technology and, at the same time, the current implications on educational processes. At the...
Student’s digital competences in Belgium and Romania: A comparative analysis
Frontiers in Education
This research explores students’ digital competences level in three major universities from Belgium and Romania, based on a combination of seven core skills: communication and collaboration skills, creativity skills, critical thinking skills, information skills, problem-solving skills and technological skills. We applied a quantitative design based on an online survey, applied during March 2021–May 2022 using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The study focuses on examining the qualifications and implementation of students’ digital abilities in Romania and Belgium, looking for similarities and differences. The results indicate that students from Belgium have higher average scores for communication and collaboration, information, and problem-solving digital skills than the other skills, while, in the case of students from Romania, creativity and technological skills have the highest average scores compared to the other digital skills. In addition, significant differences between countries...
Considerations on the influence of digital technology regarding education in Romania
Proceedings of the 1st International Scientific Conference "Modern Management Trends and the Digital Economy: from Regional Development to Global Economic Growth" (MTDE 2019), 2019
Digital education is one of the basic preoccupations of Romanian education that contributes to the formation of digital information and communication culture at every citizen level. Without an educated population eager to use information and communication technologies, no community can truly participate in the global network. Through the development of technology and the emergence of modern means of information, the perception of education is changing and the major development centers in the field of education are trying to bring education to another level, basically using the young generation’s dependence on new technologies by developing online platforms which students and students can easily access, but also accessible to teachers who wish to align their teaching methods with current modern requirements. Considering the above-mentioned aspects, the main objective of this paper was to investigate the specialized literature of this field and to make a critical synthesis of the curr...
Digital Skills: a Necessity in the New Informational and Communication Context
Romanian Review of Library and Information Science, 2024
The complexity of the digital environment, as an information and communication environment, determines changes in the information and communication behaviour of users, in the context of the social, cultural, educational, economic activities carried out, leading to new paradigms in the field of information, documentation and research and essentially changing contemporary society in all its components. Digital skills are essential in contemporary society, substantially influencing the educational process. It is crucial that individuals, educational institutions and organizations work together to develop these skills, thus ensuring a society better prepared for the challenges of the future. Investigating the university environment in Romania, respectively the opinions of undergraduate and master's students, we note that they prefer to use electronic resources for study and equally strongly feel (78,4%) the need to train to use digital tools and resources.
Social Media Literacy in Romanian Universities – Are we Ready Yet?
Nowadays, we all witness a process of transformation of universities from ivory towers into collaborative networks. Cooperation and interconnectivity become more and more important in the research-and-development and educational areas. In this trend, while the potential of Social Media seems immense, some inherent risks create uncertainty in using them in an appropriate way. There seems to be a mismatch between the logic of participatory media and the still-reigning centralized-reminiscent model of Romanian universities, with its emphasis on inflexible processes and control. By its nature, Social Media encourages horizontal collaboration and more relaxed conversations that travel in random paths across professors and students. It there by short-circuits established power dynamics and traditional lines of communication and may affect the traditional image of the university. This article discusses some challenges and opportunities that emerge from the contemporary Social Media evolution for universities, and provides structure to better understand the benefits and pitfalls of using Social Media in this field. We begin by focusing on some relevant traits in the profiles of the innovating and performer employees from Romanian universities, in order to approximate their Social Media readiness. After that, we analyze profoundly, in a study based on a questionnaire, the new dimensions added by Social Media to these traits – as noticed in a very recent McKinsey study, which looks at the individual as a producer, distributor, recipient, advisor architect and analyst in order to consider him a Social Media–literate. Based on this analysis, we then derive a set of observations about Social Media literacy in Romanian academic environment.
2018
In the technology-dense environment of the “Millennial generation”, the use of ICT for educational purposes is ineviTable. Students use multiple devices for communicating with peers and professors, for interaction with institutions, retrieve content, propose topics, and inquire for information at a pace and in a volume, that can be overwhelming without the intervention of ICT. Computer assisted teaching and learning already have a history both in practice, and in research. However, new technologies and convergent devices make way for a new philosophy on educational processes. The present study considers the perceptions of students at Politehnica University regarding the shared educational resources, both on a vertical communication stream (professor-tostudent) and horizontally (student-to-student). The study explores common practices of students who need to evaluate, decide and create or not a virtual learning community, since they are enrolled and expected to attend classes in the ...
Digital competence of the university student. A systematic and bibliographic update
Revista Amazonia Investiga
Society has experienced an essential technological revolution in recent decades, generating significant repercussions in the educational field, especially in higher education. This technological evolution demands the development of digital skills that allow us to face problems and situations in this environment. In this sense, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have attached great importance to the training in digital skills of university students in their academic policies. Digital competence implies the knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes necessary to access, analyze, evaluate, reflect critically, create, and communicate in four key areas: technological, informational, multimedia, and communicative. The objective of this article is to analyze documents related to the digital competencies of university students. To achieve this, a descriptive bibliometric study was carried out. Among the conclusions, the need to strengthen the training in digital skills of university stud...