Stefania Kifor

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can support varied academic practices, but favourable attitudes and perceived benefits do not establish how students use it or what they learn. This cross-sectional study examined associations among AI attitudes, reported GenAI use, and perceived cognitive experiences in 472 students enrolled in teacher-education programmes at one Romanian university. The analytical specification was documented after the data had been examined but before the final regression analyses; the study was not preregistered. Four ordinary least squares models used heteroscedasticity-consistent (HC3) inference and family-specific Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment. Positive AI Attitudes were associated with both Strategic Use (β = 0.518) and Shortcut Use (β = 0.251; both q < 0.001), whereas Reverse-Scored Negative AI Attitudes did not meet the focal FDR criterion for either use index. Neither use index was clearly associated with Perceived AI-Related Extraneous Load. In exploratory M4, Strategic Use was positively associated with perceived improvement in understanding (β = 0.199, q < 0.001), whereas Shortcut Use was inconclusive (β = 0.026, q = 0.522). The findings suggest that general AI attitudes, reported practices, and perceived learning benefits should be treated as distinct aspects of students’ experiences with GenAI. Given the limited psychometric support for some observed indices, the absence of preregistration, and the cross-sectional design, the results do not establish causal effects, changes in student engagement, or independently assessed learning.

Romania passed through the pandemic crisis neither as a success story, nor as a desperate case. Placing the situation in the European context, Romania was not dramatically affected – the first cases registered on March 1st (3 cases) appeared at a time when Italy and Spain, for example, were already fighting deaths due to COVID-19. The pandemic evolution in Romania was comparatively slow and controllable. However, the worst was yet to come. The third pandemic shock was dramatic and kept schools closed until the autumn-winter of 2020, thus requiring one semester of online teaching during 2020 and two more semesters during 2021. The Romanian paradox is that while having the highest performing internet in Europe, the country still has major poverty issues. In fact, the pandemic crisis brought to light the major problems of Romania’s educational system. This chapter addresses those challenges – most specifically, students having no access to schools, the poor infrastructure of the schools, the alarming student dropout rate and sometimes schools’ poor academic performances.

At the end of 2021, Romania had 45,212 abandoned children registered in the state foster system. A major consequence of this dramatic situation is the lack of chance for the young adults getting out of the institutional system to independently manage their insertion into the social and economic context, by means of independent life skills, which will be the focus of this research. We will set the context, looking into the situation of institutionalized children, we will provide a review of the literature referring to their learning needs in respect to the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching, we will provide the planning for the future intervention intended, as well as an inventory of targeted competencies which we will consider in our project aiming to train the trainers of these teen-agers for a more efficient approach of their formative activities in the foster institutions in our area.

Isolated within the communist Eastern Block until 1989, Romania has been experiencing numerous educational reforms, initiated by the National Ministry of Education and generally aligned with the European Union goals through the Bologna Treaty. The socioeconomic macrosystem is an important source of influence and we are looking at its main directions. Scholarship on the topic of teaching and learning in Romania is emergent but Computer-Assisted-Teaching (CAT) education in Romania remains insufficiently explored, despite the ever-growing need. This chapter analyzes the state of CAT formative programs for the preservice and the in-service teachers at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, Romania. We are now using the lessons learned from the Covid-19 crisis to reflect on new needs for digital competencies, Professional Development (PD), and proposed systemic changes. Such professional training is offered first during the university years, during the BA and MA studies. At the university level, the teacher training curriculum includes CAT, while for the in-service teachers, the PD continues through a combination of self-pursued and mandatory teacher training sessions offered by the regional school districts, universities, and professional organizations. CAT PD is not usually the focus of teacher preparation degree programs; the computer-assisted teaching course during teachers' training program offers a general, introductory perspective on using technology in teaching. For in-service teachers, most specialized PD happens independently and/or through self-teaching. The Covid-19 crisis created not only the urgent need to learn how to teach online but also the awareness that computer-assisted teaching PD needs certain changes.

The paper investigates experiences of employees and middle managers in relation to the transition from working from office to working from home in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. Three online focus groups were conducted to explore working experience in the new mode of work. The conclusions are multifaceted, covering four dimensions: time, spatial, social and technical, and point out how employees and middle managers understand the transition and what impact telework had on their job satisfaction and work productivity.

In this paper, the authors aim to develop an intelligent learning environment model designed to improve students’ academic performance. Methodology: Referring to the litarature, the authors identified and analyzed a number of relevant issues that influence the specific components of an intelligent learning environment. These aspects were quantified using performance indicators defined on the basis of the specific objectives of each aspect chosen. Results: Following the analysis, the authors developed a model of intelligent learning space, and for its representation, we used conceptual modeling. Conclusions: Finally, the authors propose the prevalidation of the model using the dynamic modeling process and then the model will be piloted for final validation in both physical and virtual environment. These aspects are proposed because in the present study, the model was validated only based on the results from studies in scientific literature.

What do business and education have in common when it comes to continuous improvements? The answer is Lean Principles. Case studies and implementation challenges from some pilot PBL projects in one university, in Romania, are analysed and described in depth, while comparing the educational experience in the university to the challenges and resistance to change that facilitators in the private sector face inside their own companies. Taking this into consideration and based on qualitative data retrieved from interviews carried out in the private sector and in the educational sector, the authors of this paper will present deep insights that are meant to serve as a basis for understanding the “wicked problem” of scalling continuous improvements like Problem Based Learning throughout the entire teaching organization.

The professional standards for teachers provide the competences needed for this occupation, in function of the level of education and of the career stages. This study aims to discover the most important training factors which contribute to the acquisition of teacher competences and to establish the implications for teacher education. We have used a mixed-method design as the procedure for collecting, analyzing, and combining both quantitative and qualitative data. To detect the main agents in the teacher competences’ achievement, we applied a questionnaire and we asked the personal opinion of the teachers regarding their evolution in the career. The findings indicated that the principal factor was the individual study, followed by the continuing professional development, through training courses, the collaborative learning, and, almost on the last place, the initial teacher education. Implications for teacher education: the changes in the future are incalculable, so we have to rethink the teacher education to ensure future teachers able to learn and adapt themselves to different conditions. We appreciate the recommendations to reform teacher education in the context of lifelong learning very useful (Dolan, 2012) and we will study the applicability of them in our university.

Developments in the IT field have led to the development and variety of e-learning objects so that video or gaming lessons are found in most online courses and are developed in order to maintain the student’s interest. The current Learning Management Systems challenges refer to how to generate a dynamic content that automatically adapts to the a priori level of a student’s knowledge and behavior during lessons. Starting from the model student, the component of adaptive learning, the aim of this paper is to keep student motivation by designing a course with content related to the level of knowledge of the students. At the same time, lessons combine elements of gamification with quizzes, textual contexts and infographics in order to make the content more varied, and in order for the student to be more engaged, to assimilate, to understand or to recall the concepts presented in the course.