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Student perception and learning in on-line learning platforms

Author(s): Cristian Bucur,Ionela Serban / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

Previous research showed that information quality, system quality, and service quality affect perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use for educational platforms (Tsai, YY., Chao, CM., Lin, HM. et al. Qual Quant, 2018); other authors debate on how they adopt and embed technology into their learning activities (Moreno V, Cavazotte F, Alves, I, 2017); students' perceptions regarding the usefulness and easiness of positive use for e-learning platforms is strongly influenced by their intention to effectively use those platforms and by students' cognitive absorption and self-efficacy, as well as by system interactivity and facilitating conditions. Our research is focused on empirical observation that suggests that there is a perceived difference between learners competencies and effectiveness regarding the on-line learning platforms than the regular frequency study programs. To this respect we focused on the same type and content bachelor degree study programme in 2 versions: distance learning using on-line learning platforms (with a small part of face-to-face tutorials) than full-time learning (based on face-to-face study courses and seminars). We were interested in perception and student consciousness on difference between those 2 students groups. The main assumption is that student identity is built around the perception on the learning environment and the perception on effectiveness in bachelor degree programs; so that, the easiness and level of satisfaction on learning on-line tools could be an impediment on understanding and choosing the distance learning programme than full-time learning programme. So, we put the two perception and identity student awareness is different in the 2 bachelor degree programmes; also, we put those identity awareness structures into the light of comparison so that conclusions towards quality perception and educational marketing would be more effective and valuable.

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Applying the principles of didactics to the e-learning teaching of astronomy and astrophysics

Author(s): Afrodita Liliana Boldea / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The recent development of the Internet, associated with the new facilities for dissemination of scientific information in the world, have produced a deep change in the approach and the learning of some scientific fields. Teaching principles are general, systemic, normative and open concepts that underpin the attainment of educational objectives and govern the design, organization and conduct of teaching. In this paper it will exemplify the application of Principles of Didactics in the teaching of Computational Astronomy and Astrophysics. For perfect organization and development of the educational process, the teacher should observe and apply the correct principles of teaching with using modern teaching methods. The informal environment of the Observational Astronomy represents a significant reservoir of knowledge and can be a major source of innovation for new methods of teaching and learning sciences in schools and universities. In this context, the paper presents some informal e-learning methods, adapted for teaching and learning the Observational and the Computational Astronomy and tested recently on groups of students from University of Craiova. The finality of the experiment was to insert the students directly into some hot topics of astronomical research, starting only with the basically knowledge derived from astronomy and astrophysics popularisation sites and studying in small interactive autonomous groups. The role of the teacher was reduced to a long distance documentation selector and at a mediator between divergent approaches of different groups or different interpretation of astronomy notions. The methodology used was characteristically to the On-line Enriched (Driver) Model from E-learning, where the learning process is largely delivered on-line, with only rare periodically physical contact with a teacher. The approach, derived from Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) philosophy, included three steps: a formalization of some recent problems in Astronomy, with a continuous feed-back inside the testes group of students, an extended individual documentary research, based on the virtual lab principle, and a final analysis of the results of this investigation, when the students were asked to propose and sustain a planning of lessons in astronomy for teaching the studied concepts and facts to secondary level scholars.

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Enhancing Self-Regulation Skills in E-Learning Environments

Author(s): Maria Canter / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

In order to become independent learners, the students must develop self-regulation learning competences. The self-regulated learning process is closely connected to the student, the environment and the teacher, and it has been scientifically proved that it can be of three types: internal, external or mixed; thus, the internal one can be associated with the goal or the intrinsic motivation of the student, the external one deals with external factors and the mixed one relates to both the student and the teacher equally. An external factor can be the learning environment, in this case, the e-learning system. Analyzing the features that e-learning systems need to become an appropriate environment for the improvement of these competences in students, I have discovered a lack of representation in this research area. The paper introduces such a mechanism which is designed to develop the students’ metacognitive competences, the ones connected to self-regulated learning, an aspect which has not been approached so far in the e-learning environment. The mechanism used for developing the self-regulatory competences is the feedback, offered automatically and periodically by the e-learning system. We consider feedback as being the communication between the system and the learner, derived from a task or a process and it is individual, adapted feedback. The feedback module was designed, implemented based on the eFront e-learning system and tested. The module is automatically executed, once the time for monitoring student activity has run up, which can be correlated with the periodicity of offering feedback automatically (in the case of the tested prototype – one week). Based on the monitoring time during execution, the database interrogation is performed and only the student tasks that were completed within that particular time interval are considered. Depending on student profile, the feedback messages to be sent to the student are created, both in the form of internal messages and in the form of e-mail or text message. For every feedback message sent, an entry is created in the database so as to allow for later monitoring of the students’ evolution based on the feedback sent to them.

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Innovative Technology in the Language Class-Learning by Laughing, with Memes Under Focus

Author(s): Yolanda-Mirela Catelly / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

In the contemporary society worldwide, with a dramatic change of mentality among the young generations, particularly starting from the so-called Millennials, amendments to the traditional approaches and new innovative forms of education to be designed and implemented stand as the real challenge for the teachers of any discipline, in order to provide solid support to the learners, thus contributing to their courses efficiency and to the trainees’ learning success. At the trainer’s disposal there is today a plethora of e-learning means, with proven impact in augmenting effectiveness of the instructional process at all levels. Therefore, in the educational setting presented here, viz. engineering students reading Computer Science at bachelor level, with English as the medium of tuition, within the English for Science and Technology – EST course, the foreign language teacher, in search for variety, novelty and successful exploitation of humor and creativity in the language class, on the basis of some new and quite popular IT ‘tools’, has designed and taught a cycle of activities focusing on image macros, more generically labelled as memes. Thus, the paper is meant as a strong plea for encouraging learning by setting creativity, fun and avoidance of monotony elements in the lesson. Moreover, the linguistic aspects, as well as those culture-related, are also of significance, since, in order to create memes, besides the technical skills which are compulsory, one really needs a substantial array of softer skills, such as good command of the target language, sensitivity regarding cultural differences and, last but certainly not least, a great sense of humor. Hence, the approach proposed here hypothesizes that, by embedding a cycle of tasks focused on designing and discussing about such a new and popular form of social media, having multiple functions and often becoming a viral vehicle for communication, of the marketing type for instance, or for spreading opinions among the masses, the repertory of (transferable) hard and soft skills alike of the students/would-be engineers will develop, together with their chances of employability on an ever more demanding job market (inter)nationally. Consequently, the aim of the paper is a multiple one, i.e. to: (i) encourage the students to make use of their technical skills in IT, but in an original manner – by creating memes, necessarily combining them with the linguistic and even creative writing skills, which could turn into a real asset for them as future specialists, required to advertise for the products they manufacture or to socialize in professional environments, and (ii) design authentic tasks that are different from the usual, sometimes repetitive, ones the learners are used to, as such activities are based, apart from the learners’ technical knowledge, on the intelligent thought-provoking and laughter-generating use of the foreign language. The eclectic, communicative core approach task package is described, and the pedagogic rationale is given for the manner of sequencing them.

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E-learning Market in Romania

Author(s): Monica Condruz-Bacescu / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The paper focuses on e-learning market in Romania. The e-learning market in Romania is underdeveloped compared to what is happening in this field in other European countries. Nowadays, any company or organization needs an employee training program, be it pharmaceutical, banking, sales or multinational companies. As a result, firms that want to provide training to acquire the skills needed to perform a particular job show two main trends: on the one hand, they turn to foreign companies, whose specialization is training and team building, and on the other hand, there are people in the company themselves who have the task of providing that training. The paper also presents trends and perspectives in e-learning and the first online platform that prepares young people for the current labor market- laboratoruldecariere.ro. Digital Economy and Society Index is another important issue. The DESI, calculated annually, monitors member states performance on the following levels: digital connectivity, digital competences, online activity, business digitalization and digital public services. It helps EU countries identify areas requiring investment and priority measures. In Romania, the level of digitization of the economy, as well as the digital competences of the population, are relatively low and makes progress in most DESI dimensions difficult. The conclusion is that employers and companies providing online training think that the market is rising and in the coming years, even if it does not replace traditional training, e-learning will be the main refuge of employers. The e-learning market is certainly growing, and European-funded projects that have been developed lately have managed to boost it both in the public and private sectors. E-learning will not completely replace the classroom courses, but it will expand them. It will also create training opportunities for people who do not have access to training for various reasons (the most important being time and money). Online training methods have advantages linked to costs, ease of program implementation to a larger audience from companies, making available more content types. The e-learning system offers one of the best variants to produce tangible results. This is perhaps also the main reason why this industry is experiencing a significant increase worldwide. Researchers estimate that e-learning is a growing industry with huge potential that will find its place in the next few years in all pre-university and university education institutions, state or private, but also in all major corporations.

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The Impact of Digital Technologies on Learning

Author(s): Monica Condruz-Bacescu / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The paper focuses on the impact of digital technologies on learning. Internet-based and new media education builds an educational model tailored to the needs of younger generations and offers an alternative to traditional education. The interest of analysis developed in this study is directed to understanding the existing relationships between the traditional education system and the modern one. The in-depth analysis of the new media issues used in the field of education leads us to the conclusion that the online user has a wider range of possibilities when accessing such systems. Compared to the traditional education system, the new media have two fundamental characteristics. First of all, interactivity. The user simultaneously accesses multiple online components, which gives different opportunities in this environment. Second, the concept of ubiquity. All the more, the impact of digital technologies on younger generations, using them from their young childhood, seems to be profound, with major reverberations about how they learn. Research data support, at least partially at this time, these premises. There is research that demonstrates without a doubt the positive impact of digital technologies on cognitive development, the formation of decision-making abilities, the diminishing of cognitive degenerative processes at the old age, but also the augmentation of fine motor skills. There are also many studies whose results are known in the public domain and are aimed at negative effects, starting with the risks of small children's exposure to digital technologies, which can lead to major attention deficits around the age of 7-8 years, and may continue to show the adverse effects of certain types of content conveyed in this environment, impacting, for example, the aggressiveness or perverse effects of social media on personal identity and self-esteem. The paper also presents the first software e-learning Romanian platform - Wand.education. Wand.education is a state-of-the-art software that provides educators with an intuitive platform for creating interactive educational content in a simple and fast way. The platform is intended for both teachers, pupils and parents who can create and access interactive educational content. In conclusion, digital society networks, the internet and new media are the most important challenge of the moment in the educational process, the generated impact becomes a peak of the progress made in all spheres of social life. Contemporary systems develop the task of continuous human training. The development of specialized competencies is a current issue, the educational curriculum directs the training and education process to achieve a quality training, suitable for an informational society.

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Smart Education in Smart City and Student Model

Author(s): Mario Dumančić / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

Smart cities are not just a trend; they have become a tendency of development of living and social environment. Green energy, coexistence with the nature, better and technologically supported living environment are the foundation of Smart cities. Smart cities are broader and more complex social projects to changing the life we live. One of the elements of Smart cities project is also "smart education". Strong impetus for development of Smart cities has to come from development of Smart Education environment. For Smart Cities the need for educating all citizens is the bacis element of development. Only continually educated (lifelong learners) citizens will be able to make this step. Today's education and its organization and implementation are not sufficient for the future of smart cities. The development of smart education encompasses the use of different educational technologies and access to IoT technology in education. Creating a new technological environment IoT provides new approaches to education of all regardless of their age. Current educational approaches will not be able to support the needs of education. ICT infrastructure is changing, which will directly affect the existing approaches and technology in education. The future of education is smart education. Are we ready for new changes? What are the options and what are the mistakes? This paper discusses the notion and the characteristics of Smart education on the example of Smart cities of the future.

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The Use of e-Learning Techniques in PR Training

Author(s): Mirela Ioniță,Veronica PĂSTAE / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The PR (public relations) domain requires complex skills nowadays. This professional environment has deeply changed after digital media were added to traditional media. Multimedia have imposed a different approach to PR and generated new jobs on the labor market. Today, a PR graduate should be familiar with the online environment, should be skilled at managing social media accounts, at web design, since multimedia production has become a hiring condition in this field. A PR specialist should develop linguistic, discursive and digital skills. Besides these, a professional must also acquire specific knowledge from the field so as to be able to produce effective messages. However, the training of PR specialists is usually centered around the development of discursive skills. In the present article, nonetheless, we advocate for the importance of developing digital competencies in PR and we argue that this training segment can be made more efficient by using e-learning methods. Yet, the article draws attention to the fact that there are PR training segments that cannot be carried out through e-learning. PR specialists must be able to offer a memorable user experience to their target audience. In order to fulfill this purpose, it is necessary to develop multiple skills needed to create both the content and the form of the conveyed messages. Accessibility, content strategy, design thinking, information architecture, interaction design, multidevice design should be major concerns in the training of competitive PR specialists. Online platforms devoted to PR training are part of blended learning strategies and offer users the possibility to interact with current information through nonlinear learning methods, and enhance the development of creativity through interactive applications.

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Developing Professional Vision: an On-line Course of Adlerian Classroom Management for Pre-service Teachers

Author(s): Zlatica Jursová Zacharová,Lenka Sokolová / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

Professional vision is defined as the teacher's ability to spot relevant classroom interactions (selective attention) and to interpret these moments on the basis of previous knowledge (knowledge-based reasoning). Content-independent professional vision of classroom events is related to classroom dynamics and identification of misbehaviour, it is an important part of classroom management. Novice teachers are expected to deal with challenging classroom situations, however, it seems to be difficult to teach them how to deal with these situations in their pre-gradual education. The aim of this study is to analyse the design and learning outcomes of an online course of classroom management for pre-service teachers at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. The course was based on the principles of Adlerian psychology and the concept of Dreikurs' mistaken goals of misbehaviour. The online platform of the course served as support of contact lessons and it was designed in Teams (an application included in Microsoft Office 365 for Education). The students (N = 70) were provided with online study materials, including case studies, worksheets, and problem-based tasks; chat room, where they could share their ideas and comments; and video-based forms, which contained training classroom video sequences for analysis according to Dreikurs' concept. The length of the course was 10 weeks, including three blocks of contact lessons. The course design evaluation is based on the analysis of students' comments on the video sequences and their final feedback on course design, technical support, and quality of provided materials. This study is a part of project VEGA 1/0409/17 Teachers' personality and professional vision related to the dealing with challenging situations in the classroom during the transition into service.

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Digital Support of Developing Narrative Competence Among Children from Excluded Rural Communities in Slovakia

Author(s): Zlatica Jursová Zacharová / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

Children from excluded rural communities in Slovakia are at permanent risk of low school achievement which is often related to social, language and digital exclusion. A closed circle of social exclusion and childhood poverty usually leads to school attrition, adult exclusion, and unemployment. One way how to break this circle is helping these children to succeed at school from pre-primary and primary education. As far as the language of instruction (Slovak language) is often not their first language, these children fail to fulfill school requirements very early. To develop their narrative competence in the Slovak language we adopted a set of materials for the teaching of Slovak as a second language (Hocus & Lotus narrative format programme, Taeschner, 2005). We prepared for teachers and children printed books and handouts as well as digital materials like audiobooks, videos, web-based colour books and handouts usable with an interactive board. These materials were available via the project website and can help children to develop both language and digital competences which may bridge the school achievement gap in later education. An experimental project was designed to verify the programme in 10 classes of children from 6 to 10 years of age (N = 104). The teachers were asked to evaluate the outcomes of using the digital materials in narrative format education and the further needs were analyzed. Based on these results further recommendations for socially disadvantaged children are discussed. This study is a part of the project KEGA 060UK-4/2017 Supporting narrative competence in the Slovak language for children from marginalized language environment – a set of teaching materials and of the project VEGA 1/0409/17 Teachers' personality and professional vision related to the dealing with challenging situations in the classroom during the transition into service.

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Numerals in Model of Human Knowledge Representation

Author(s): Sergey KRESTOV,Iurii STROGANOV,Alyona LOGINOVA / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The purpose of this study was to create a system of knowledge representation in information systems most similar to the model of human knowledge representation. The problem of plain arithmetic operations and numerals representation was chosen as a main goal. Knowledge representation in general terms was chosen for the current problem as a first goal. For this purpose psychological theories and experiments about human knowledge representation models were overviewed. As en example, the "violin" experiment was given. This experiment confirms the idea of information representation in human's mind as a net of entities connected by associative relations. As an analogue of such structure in information technologies world semantic networks were considered. This structure was chosen because semantic networks use the same idea of knowledge representation as a graph. Ontology as a pattern of semantic networks construction is also considered. Following this pattern edges and their relations are joined into classes with common properties and behaviour. Finally, technical and psychological approaches were compared to choose the most correct way to represent information as humans do. But the problem of numerals representation in human's mind also has its own psychological problems. Such concepts of numbers for adults and children differences were shown. Requirements for this concept were specified, such as: the measure and the sequence of information representation. Guided by this rules the concept of Church numerals was chosen. This concept exists in lambda calculus, which base ideas were described in the paper as well. Church numbers approach in terms of semantic networks was also given. For calculations simplification the addition table idea was used and applied with semantic networks context. But a human usually uses place-value notation when big numbers are required. And Church numbers use too much memory in this situation (an addition table grows too fast with maximum of number defined in Church notation). So the place-value notation which uses Church numbers as digits and as a position marker was given.

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Virtual Class (Videoconference)

Author(s): Andrei Găitanaru / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2019

The omnipresence of the Internet and computers has transformed communication, providing access to unimaginable information and resources. This has led to the definition of a new paradigm of the knowledge society in which education plays a central role. The phenomenon of globalization imposed the concept of mobility of access to information and education. In order to synchronize with the pace of technical and socio-economic development, educational institutions should abandon the exclusivity of using the formal, classic face to face of education and orientate themselves to the mobility needs of the users of the educational services. One of the most used modalities by educational institutions is to address education through the systemic framework of eLearning, with all its tools, media, technologies and rules. The complexity of tools has grown enormously, and those who acquire and use technology are no longer just ICT professionals, but also educational content creators, managers, teachers and students. These rapid changes have left many behind those who have failed to adapt and document properly. "Informatics restores not only the unity of pure and applied mathematics, concrete technique and abstract mathematics, but also that of the natural sciences, of man and of society. Rebalancing abstract and formal concepts and reconciling art with science, not only in the human science, where they were always reconciled, but also in their philosophy. "[1] Temporarily, collaborative tools allow communication between participants synchronously or asynchronously. Synchronous communication, often called a conference, takes place in real time, where participants are present online at the same time. Synchronic communication channels can include chatting, sharing applications, tabular, audio or video conferences, etc. [2].

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E-School Management System Based on Satellite IMT-Advanced Technology

Author(s): Naseer Abdulkarim Jaber Al-Habeeb,Sarmad Monadel Sabree Al-Gayar / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

The Education and the Training became growingly important for people of all nations during the past century, and that model will be no less true, during the 21st Century. Modern Distance Education, became strong by networks depending on the ICT and the tools of the Internet, provides large benefits that are leveling the domain of global playing, on one hand of supplying the access and the chances for the training and education. Using satellite technology especially the satellite IMT-Advanced systems based on SAT-OFDM technology in Distance Education may be pressing to evolve nations, where a lot of their populations are dispersed in the rural and remote areas. A system of E-School Management is the comprehensive web-based Software for Management of School. It is a powerful tool based on ICT and the tools of Internet resource planning platform for enterprise that collects the core functions of different systems into the single overall package, included System of Student Information (SIS), System of the Learning Management (LMS), Attendance, Accounting, Examination, Library, Video conference and VoIP. The Satellite IMT-Advanced systems based on SAT-OFDM technology can supply trustworthy and ubiquitous communication services anywhere on a universal basis. In this article, we present research that is concerned with building a System of E-School Management depending on the Satellite IMT-Advanced Systems based on SAT-OFDM technology for Iraq environment, where a proportion of its population are scattered in rural and remote areas. It is designing for best interaction amongst the students, the teachers, the parents and administration of the school. This software of management very safely processes all requirements for simple school management.

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Didactic Instrument Developed in Geogebra for the Determination of the Coordinates of an Earthquake Based on an Inquiry Based Learning Method

Author(s): Fabiola-Sanda CHIRIACESCU,Bogdan CHIRIACESCU,Cristina Miron / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

Starting from the necessity of an applicated study of physics, in this paper, we propose the development of an instrument based on Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). With this instrument and using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) elements the students learn about the seismic waves as a direct application of the mechanical waves study, analyze an earthquake succeeding in deciphering a seismogram and determinate the location of the epicenter of an earthquake. The location of the epicenter is done by the triangulation method. The application designed by authors and presented here facilitates the determinations surpassing/ eliminating the possible errors that can occur either from the calculus or the geometrical drawing, the only source of errors remaining the reading of the seismograms, meaning the arrival times for the Primary and the Secondary waves of the earthquake. In order to illustrate the triangulation method, the GeoGebra application and didactic simplified seismograms are used, in order to ease the correct understanding of the method. GeoGebra is free software for geometrical constructions combined with algebraic calculus, therefore a perfect tool for the illustration of the triangulation method. The designed instrument can be included in an e-learning sequence by the following components: the theoretical notions are provided through a blog open for the students or by setting up an e-classroom. The application runs also on smartphones and tablets which create the possibility of setting up a virtual lab with the students. So, as result of the use of the learning instrument, the students will achieve a better understanding both of the way of studying the earthquakes and the phenomenon itself either in quality and in quantity. The application allows also the understanding of how a scientific investigation is realized and will learn how to use experimental data for the conclusions related to a phenomenon. They will gain some IT competencies also, by using the virtual space in order to communicate and to achieve data.

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The Impact of E-Learning on the Future Job Market – Predicting a New Educational Type of Learning Style for The Next Generations

Author(s): Alexandru DARIE,Roxana Postelnicu,Cezar SCARLAT / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

This paper aims to present a theoretical analysis of a new educational type of learning style for the next generations. We are in a new era of a technological breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics that will change the jobs as we know them. Some jobs will disappear and new ones will be created. In the next decades, machines and robots are expected to perform more current tasks than humans and there will be a need of new skilled workers that could program, design and handle the Artificial Intelligence. What happens with the ones that will be left out? It will be a critical issue for the businesses to take a proactive role in supporting their existing employees through reconverting to new areas of competencies and for the educational institutes to create an environment that facilitates workforce transformation. The change in the educational paradigm should have two key components: soft skills and technical skills. Soft skills are the key abilities for the ones that will reconvert from jobs that will disappear and technical skills are the key abilities for the jobs that aren't created yet. The best scenario would be to combine the two skill sets and the challenge for this will be to merge them in: a new educational platform for students and a new one for reconverting education for both adults and elders. The studies show us that we are not proactive on the issue of preparing the workforce that will fill the job market in the future. This article will review a series of predictions regarding jobs that will be created based on the digitalization of old industries, new technological areas and a modern way of education.

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Relearning Life: A Study on Learning Experience and Life Satisfaction while Recovering

Author(s): Cristiana Lotrea,Adriana Sarah Nica,Ilinca Brîndușa MITOIU / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

Starting with the three-dimensional theoretical perspective explored by Ruut Veenhoven and his collaborators, namely Set-point theory (claiming that each individual can feel happiness/ satisfaction up to a certain level that cannot be exceeded), Comparison theory of happiness (claiming that we tend to feel more or less happy by comparing ourselves to other individuals, to previous moments of our lives or to our expectations), and Affection theory (claiming that happiness is rather an overall feeling), the main AIM of this article is to understand what influences patients' perceived level of happiness, and subsequently, to determine how technology can be helpful for rising their level of life satisfaction. In order to do so, we applied questionnaires to patients hospitalized in one of the most sought-after clinics in the city. The study comprised three dimensions, namely, Evaluating the level of happiness, Difficulties and learning strategies, and Technology use and usability. Consequently, we expect life satisfaction to be determined by severity of illness and overall recovering costs, we also expect their learning strategies to be influenced by the severity of illness, and nonetheless, we expect the rates of technology use to vary based on the levels of impairment. However, the present research was based on a study conducted at the same clinic, one year prior, meant to gather data and help highlight the main difficulties patients face during their healing process. The initial study showed that many patients deal with pain on a daily basis, their budgets being severely affected by the cost of the treatment, thus having a lower level of life satisfaction.

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Treatment Assignment Based on Automatic Learning for the Pregnant Women Suffering from Preeclampsia

Author(s): Iuliana MARIN,Nicolae Goga / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

Preeclampsia is an illness characterized by the presence of high blood pressure which appears during the third trimester of the pregnancy. A step by step process is used to extract data from medical websites to obtain information about the patients who are pregnant women regarding their illnesses, symptoms and treatments. The existent DrOn ontology developed by the National Library of Medicine and the SYMP ontology offer information about these characteristics. The responses of the doctors are analyzed for matching the triggered information based on the features of interest. This is done to alleviate the task of the healthcare personnel who sift through the healthcare records when considering the proper treatment of a patient who also suffers from other diseases. The proposed online healthcare platform analyzes using Elasticsearch the acquired data from medical websites that is stored in the MongoDB NoSQL database. When a new patient writes about her health state while being pregnant, a new document is added to the MongoDB collection and the features used for matching are indexed into Elasticsearch. Regular expressions are used for extracting the relevant text. Natural language processing tasks like stemming and lemmatization improve the accuracy before reaching the matching step that is done based on encountered similarities. The important features that are clustered are detected by creating a document term matrix based on term frequency-inverse document frequency. While doing the crawling, the features regarding the illnesses, symptoms and illnesses are found using XPath to select the required information from the HTML belonging to the posts. The matching is done according to the features of the patient by using the weighted terms according to the matrix. After the matching is done, the patient is suggested a treatment which proved to be successful based on the previous analyzed cases. The medical professionals collaborate and can improve the existent knowledge base of the system through which the automatic treatment assignment is done. The shift to online healthcare platforms has improved the management of healthcare records, while the automatic treatment recommendation aims to enhance the monitoring of the patients, as well as the medical staff learns from the previous successfully solved cases.

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Learning to Support Online Training in Software Project Management for Better Work-Life Balance

Author(s): Roxana Postelnicu,Alexandru DARIE,Cezar SCARLAT,Elena Laura Trifan / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

Online technologies are being extensively used nowadays in our personal life, as well as in our work life. In the continuously expanding industries which develop software extensively, one of the many practices impacted by the online environment for some time now is project management. While training to become a project manager, one can use traditional ways such as attending to university or academic courses, learning from hard copies or digital versions of courses and books, but also modern ways such as e-learning, using dedicated online courses, platforms, tools and software. Some of these resources are free of charge, but others are paid and some are quite expensive, especially if they are accredited and lead to professional certification. That’s why not many project management students afford certifications and would rather try to get certified, if possible, after getting employed. However, some of the medium sized to large companies out there developing software, such as IT companies or banks, invest a lot in training their employees and have a generous training budget for each employee, allowing them to take the desired courses and certifications. But what are the main e-learning resources, software and online tools currently used by project managers in software developing industries? This paper is a literature survey based on recent articles and data that, together with an online questionnaire, aim to answer the previous question and to discuss the improvements brought by online courses, tools and resources in project managers’ quality of work and life, thus helping them to achieve a better work-life balance.

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Developing Intercultural Competences by Means of a Technology-Mediated Learning Model

Author(s): Roxana-Anca Trofin / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

Within technical universities, the language courses role is to teach both linguistic competences, as well as transversal competences, such as the intercultural competences, the discursive competences put in place in the professional communication and textual competences. Similarly, the institutional education context meant for the future engineers is more open to the integration of technologies. The technology-mediated learning model (Guichon) combines two types of thinking patterns, that of the means provided by technologies, and the one of didactic objectives, and it permits to build the training direction by taking into account the psychosocial factors. Our aim in this study is to present a technology-mediated learning model meant to develop the intercultural competences of the future engineers, but equally their discursive and textual competences. Several premises underlie our endeavour; firstly, the fact that the language is an assembly of procedures that express and transmit meanings, secondly, these meanings are built and decoded by the interlocutors according to the cultural grids specific to the collectivity, thirdly, a public having developed technical knowledge permits a better valorization of the psychoaffective aspects of education, and, finally, the current instrumentation for the acquisition of the language that essentially represents an instrument of transaction among individuals allows them to act as social actors. The present study will present the model for the creation and exploitation of authentic documents, the competences driven, the new roles of the actors: teacher ~ learner mediator, due to their technological competences, as well as the activities carried out. It will demonstrate how technologies can be dynamically integrated within a language course in order to teach specific competences.

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Improving Patient Education and the Transition Process Using Virtual Reality

Author(s): Tamara Vagg,Sabin Tăbîrcă,Cathy Shortt,Claire Fleming,Barry Plant / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2019

For those diagnosed with a chronic condition at an early age, such as Cystic Fibrosis, transition from a paediatric care facility to an adult orientated facility is often inevitable. Patients can feel anxious and nervous as they are unfamiliar with their new surroundings and healthcare team. Research has shown that these symptoms would be reduced if patients were given the opportunity to meet their new healthcare team and become familiar with the new process and surroundings prior to transitioning. This research explores the possibility of using Virtual Reality as a means of complementing the transition process. By allowing patients to explore and learn of their new surroundings and meet their healthcare team virtually prior to transitioning, it is anticipated that their will be an improvement on patient education and experience. A 3D model of the Adult CF Day Unit, Specialist Inpatient Unit, and other common testing labs is created for exploration in the Unreal Engine 4. This 3D environment is then prepared for use in a HTC Vive. The environment also includes interest points, audio, and welcome video introducing the adult CF healthcare team. Throughout the development process this system is tested with five technical researchers. The feedback received from these evaluators primarily focused on the use of a UI and other features such as a bread-crumb trail and audio to assist in the educational content at interest points. This feedback has now been implemented in preparation for patient testing. It is anticipated that this will enhance the patients experience and educate them on the transition process.

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