Romania

Report – ODL at Romania national level

Bridging Insula Europae Enhancing Pupils Motivation by Developing European Dimension of Learning and the Use of ICT 134214-LLP-1-2007-1-IT-COMENIUS-CMP Grant Agreement 2007-3435/001-001 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The distance learning or distance education is a way of teaching/learning practiced ever since the beginning of the 20th century. Before the new information technologies appearance and their broadcast, teachers were using printed material and the post-office services to send information, accomplishing this way the so called “distance education”. Any school or education institute in Romania can provide Web space to any discipline, on which the teachers or tutors can post or publish different didactic materials, homework for pupils and students, marks registers, the communication with the pupils and students being accomplished in discussions forums. Many Universities in Romania have founded distance education specializations or are going to adopt this learning way as they have perfected the programs needed to this

education

type. So the ex National Council of Valuation and Academic Credential (CNEEA) has settle down a set of Standards regarding the use of the electronic learning programs in the distance education, standards relating to [1]: - offered services for students; - specific learning resources; - offered services for the didactic staff; - accessibility to the services offered by the electronic education program; - the quality management of the services offered by the program; - presented documents by the institution. The CNEEA standards provide the following technical features for the sites dedicated to the distance education specializations the page containing the external and internal users must be flexible and it must be easy to adjust to the educative processes dynamics; - the communication, synchronized and non, between students, teachers/tutors and the technical- administrative staff must be assured; - the students assistance – online and offline, individual and/or by groups must be guaranteed; - there must be offered information regarding the appeal and the use of the available educative services; - facilities for the automatic gather of the statistical data about students and their use, to improve the offered services; - facilities for online help, the education middle map, the web page structure on which is applied the course prop or tutorial, how to use the pictograms; - accessibility to different study and communication resources: online data bases, news, correspondence, group synchronized and non, discussions, virtual seminars, virtual library; - facilities of online and/or offline valuation and self-valuation of students achieved

knowledge; - periodical gathered feedback from students on the educative services offered to them; - detailed information regarding the past activities; - introducing some monitoring and intervention ways, in case of similar technical problems appears. Romania, as a member of the EU, should take into account and implement the decisions at European level on eLearning. In this context, in Romania, within the general strategy referring to ICT, the Ministry of Education and Research, by its ongoing programs, is trying to implement the on-line assessment, as well as the e-lessons for

the various subjects, by

means of the AeL2 application. The AeL lessons are used in high schools throughout Romania within the framework of the CES (Computerized Educational System). By means of the CES, Romania has taken major steps in the development of didactic content in electronic format. Other several attempts have been: •

In the eLearning Action Plan, e-learning was defined as “the use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration” (Commission of the European Communities, 2002, p.

•

Romanian educational soft developed by Siveco.

made to introduce eLearning in the educational system, taking the form of several projects: „Introducing electronic textbooks in general education”; ”The implementation of a new open - source system for eLearning in higher education with the aim of accelerating Romania’s evolution to the informational society through innovative educational methods”; ”The Creation of an experimental centre for the pedagogical

training of tutors for distance

learning”; the Pyxis Project, developed between 2001 and 2003 completed with the creation of a distance learning site.

EDUCATIVE SITES IN ROMANIA In the last few years, in Romania have shown up many projects (educative sites), offering material support to make the new modern methods of education become popular, like the following : a) The Ministry of Education and Research Portal (www.edu.ro) This site was founded in 1998 and represents the Ministry activity, offering information and documents of the Public Information Office, concerning events, news, programs, normative papers of the preuniversity and university education, of the minorities, but also of research. b) The courses offer portal (www.1educat.ro) This site is specialized in presenting the courses offers, but also in promoting the mprovement in different fields and includes useful information on career and educative environment planning. c) The Online School Portal (www.e-scoala.ro) The Online School Site offers a free data base, both to pupils, students, and teachers and to anyone willing for education. This is an open program so that anyone can

contribute to its

development both in the programming and in materials posted on the site shares. This site’s purpose is to improve the education process efficiency at learning spaces, by offering information to complete the school curriculum, by putting at the didactic staff disposal the modern methods of instruction, by offering information on the European education. d) The SEI Portal (http://portal.edu.ro) The SEI Portal (Computerized Educational System) is the only way of communication on web between The Minister of Education and the Romanian citizen. Since 2002 this site has a discussion forum of over 40.000 registered users. Through the SEI portal of the Ministry of Education and Research, have been also developed together with the SIVECO enterprise other applications, like: - The Computerized Admission in High Schools and Vocational Schools (ADLIC), which represents a computerized system used to centralize at national level the capacity exams results between 2001 and 2006 and which was distinguished with the “Very Best Practice” award at the International Conference of e- Government organized at Brussels. - Baccalaureate 2005, 2006 – the computerizing project of the national baccalaureate that offers facilities to candidates, their options, the exams results centralization,

completing

statistics on centralized data, the partial distribution of the exam subjects through the internet.

INSTITUTES IN ROMANIA OFFERING ONLINE COURSES There are at the moment in Romania many institutes offering online courses, directed to different aged students. So, there is in Timisoara a private corporation – Timsoft www.timsoft.ro) [1] that offers online courses, host/development of lessons, online labs, advice and education in the e-learning program, development of the e-learning incorporate system, web design. To the wide public of Romania are also reserved other kind of courses placed at anyone’s disposal by different institutes, like: - The Continuous Education and Distance Learning Center (CECIDD) of the West University of Timisoara (www.cecidd.ro) offers distance courses, after university, improvement and training courses in marketing and management; - The Economic and Managerial Qualification Center (www.cpea.ro) guarantees the professional economic, computer science, law and office automation training. - Arrow Professional Qualification Center (www.centrulonline.ro) – guarantees courses on the continuous training in financial – accountant, human resources, real estate activity. - Online Courses (www.cursurionline.ro) – offers general online courses in computer science, business. The Teacher Training Department is a didactic and scientific research structure specialized in providing teachers with basic and continuous formation and training for secondary and high school; it offers courses, seminars and practical activities. It is obvious that the teacher’s professional training cannot be reduced at the initial formation. A teacher has to learn all along his professional career, to enlarge his experience and knowledge with new trends and orientations (from his field of specialty but, also, from pedagogy and psychology). The Centre for Continuous Education and Open Distance Learning is a postgraduate specialisation department school and training addressed to human resources in organisations from various fields. The study programs are opened, offering client and quality specialisation fields, using also E-learning. Both the Centre for Continuous Education and Open Distance Learning and the Teacher Training Department intend to develop and to extend and, also, to establish a collaboration for open distance learning, in which the Teacher Training Department will offer the programs, the curricula, the didactic methods and strategies for the training of teachers and

the Centre for Continuous Education and Open Distance Learning will offer the logistic and material support. When we refer to the quality of education we have to make, in the first place the distinction between the quality of products and the quality of services. It is now clear that education and training are services, delivered through teaching. In this case we can define two quality perspectives: the traditional approach - to consider the quality of teaching from the perspective of conformity with the design - and the total quality management approach – the quality of education and training is seen as the effectiveness of the service towards the students. We consider that in our days the real challenge for teachers and trainers is to develop didactic approaches that can meet both quality requirements at the same time. We can define the teaching quality dimensions by analogy with the services quality dimensions: Competence →

Subject competence, expertise, experience

Communication

Clarity of objectives and of the information

→ Responsiveness

Rapid feedback

→ Reliability →

Consistent performance

Credibility →

Honesty, trustworthiness

Timeliness →

Respect of timetables

Security →

Non-threatening behavior

Access →

Approachability

Courtesy →

Professional ethics

Understanding

Individualized attention

→ Tangibles →

Teaching environment

1 2 3 4 5 6 71. TEACHER-RELATED FACTORS

1• the teacher’s scientifical competence - in higher education, where adult students are more knowledgeable and more critical, competence expectations for the teacher are such as: be experienced and knowledgeable in the area, be able to back up assertions with facts or research findings, have something new to offer, new ideas and new ways of approaching problems, be credible to students.

2• the teacher’s didactic and pedagogical competence is maybe the most important factor in the enhancement of the learning quality in individual pathways. It includes the ability: to transmit knowledge and skills by translating them into ideas and concepts that are understandable by audience, to stimulate students’ interest in the subject area, to prepare students for learning throughout their lifetime.

3• the teacher’s style characteristics considered to facilitate the learning process include: good communication, motivation, enthusiasm and commitment to the ideas, interest, sense of humor.

4• the teacher’s commitment and motivation is probably the determining factor for educational effectiveness closely interwoven with the professional attitude of teachers (ethical behavior, desire for continuous improvement, openness to feed-back). 12. CONTENT-RELATED FACTORS

1• the relevance and appropriateness of the course content - in adult higher education the courses that are found to be of high quality are typically referred as relevant, practical, inspirational, dynamic, informative and solution centered.

2• several practical aspects are considered to contribute at the course perceived quality: the respect for the nature and volume of subject matter, the transparency of the logic of the course, the clarity of the expectations from the students.

3• other quality characteristics of the course include : interactivity, group dynamics, use of practical applications, education support material, enjoyability, the particular teaching style 3. NON-FORMAL FACTORS

1• the learning environment – includes the development and maintenance of service such as: access to libraries, provision of self study materials, study guidance, tutoring, use of particular software and other opportunities for individual learning, the encouragement and facilitation of personal involvement in school-related activities

2• the transfer of knowledge, skills and attitudes in the learning process – is, in big part the responsibility of the student himself; in this case the learning process is to some extent beyond the control of the teacher and the University

3• the extra-curricular functions and services of the university – research, guidance services (placement services, first employment, further studies), consultancy, advice, development of values and attitudes (moral values, citizenship, social behavior), personal and cultural development of students (sport, gatherings) ODL programmes in Romania Since 2001, the ODL Commission has authorized 133 ODL programmes. All the authorizations were given only with an annual monitoring procedure. We estimate that in Romania, at the beginning of the year 2003, there were about 50,000 students enrolled in the ODL programmes organized by 26 Universities. Most of the students are enrolled in programmes in Economy, Law, foreign Languages, Social Sciences, Sciences, Agriculture, Public administration (see Fig. 1). In Figure 1 we have shown the number of ODL programmes on eight categories. The average number of students per program is about 400 students, but one can observe that this number is significantly larger for the programs in economy, public administration, social

sciences and law. Taking that into account we can

estimate that the percentage for these programtypes is going to about 90% from the total number of ODL students. The National Commission did not approve yet any ODL programmes in Technical Sciences. The ODL programmes are in an inequitable competition with a new educational system which is allowed by the Romanian Law of Education, named Reduced Frequency System (RFS). Even if this system is defined as a system derived from the ODL technology, it allows an organization of the studies much more alike with the traditional ones than the ODL system. The National Commission for Accreditation and Academic Evaluation and the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research (new name of the Ministry since 2001) have decided that the ODL Commission should evaluate the RFS programmes, as well previous section. This is mainly due to the financial aspect. At the post graduate level, the number of students is much smaller and consequently these programmes are not financially efficient. Since all

programmes are financed by student

taxes, the small scale ODL programmes are not favoured.

This should not be the case

with the new teacher training programmes which are financed by the state and promise an excellent future. One should also mention that many ODL centres developed within the TEMPUS and PHARE programmes have organized an association (ASTEC) that planned to be involved in the development of high quality ODL programmes, mainly at the postuniversity level and continuous training.

From dLearning to eLearning A substantial debate within the Romanian ODL community is focused now on the subject of the use of new IT technologies in the existing and new

ODL programmes. This could be formulated

as the evolution of the ODL programmes from the

traditional distance education system (that

could be named dLearning) to ODL programmes that are extensively using the new educational technologies based on computers linked to the Internet, known as eLearning. The ODL commission has recently elaborated the minimal rules for the use of eLearning in ODL programmes. organizing institution. As we see it now, the future of ODL in Romania, as in all the other countries, will

be more and more based on eLearning technology.

For the project Bridging Insula Europae we realized like first step some interviews with ODL experts which gave us some reflections about e-learning in educational system at national level. “Bridging Insula “ experts were chosen from all areas : sciences, mathematics, techniques, informatics, languages and communication. Matei Cornel teach techniques and informatics subject at the “ Nicolina” Technical High School of Iasi, Romania. He says: ” The concept of e-learning represents a modern way of learning (in classroom or at the distance). This modern way of learning has specific characteristics determined by the digital technology, which supports it and covers a wide range of applications and educational processes such as: •

computer-assisted learning

•

internet-based learning

•

digital television, satellite-based learning, etc.

The curricula and the materials used for such processes are handed out free and electronically to the beneficiaries, i. e. our students. The e-learning method is usually an interactive one which offers the students immediate answers to a learning sequence The introduction of ICT in education by using the Internet as a pedagogical tool , offers to the students a wide perspective of what learning is and allows everyone to obtain directly the necessary information, be it at home or at work.

ICT offers a series of advantages which have been already noticed: •

fast access to information

•

separation in time and space

•

flexibility

•

possibility of on-line evaluation

•

fast way of communicating among teachers,

researchers and students.

About the Barriers and limitations in e-learning the teacher says” •

The teachers’ and the students’ attitude towards the ICT education and e-learning is positive.

•

The e-learning based project can be implemented in the teaching – learning process, but it isn’t very used.

•

In what concerns the evaluation through e-learning at the exams we can say that there is such a possibility but it isn’t widely used; it is mainly used for the teachers’ exams and for the database of the national exams.

•

There is enough time for the education through ICT and e-learning, and the national curriculum have 2 ICT classes a week.

•

The teachers are guided and encouraged by the school to adjust to these new methods.

•

There is a large number of teachers who use this system and the European dimension, if I may say so, is implemented in our school by e-learning, which is a method used especially in English, French and History classes.

•

In conclusion, I totally agree with the ICT education and with the use of e-learning at a large scale.

Arseniuc Iuliana teach informatics subject at the “ I.C.Stefanescu” Technical Collegefrom Iasi and she

•

The ITC is a combination of 3 technologies: informatics, telecommunication and audiovisual, which are materialized in a computer connected to the Internet.

•

The students react positively to the ICT learning, being aware of the high level of the cohesion of the integration and of the orientation towards task and cooperation in order to achieve the final goal which is the control over their own education

•

The use of the new technologies facilitates new relationships among institutions, community, teachers, family and the person who studies.

•

The global educational balance has changed from the closed pedagogical approach, trusted to an institution where the educational coordination was done by the teacher, without involving the family, to an open, transparent pedagogical approach,

where the students’ initiative is encouraged, making them aware of the need to create continuous learning abilities The teachers find themselves in front of a structural change of the educational environment: 

a new student profile



few material resources



too many activities



a competition to obtain new funds



new requests from the society



new requests from the labour market



new requests from the educational system



new requests from the direct and indirect beneficiaries: > students and parents

•

About the barriers and limitations in e-learning, I strongly agree that the teachers’ and the students’ attitude towards the ICT education and e-learning is positive.

•

I strongly disagree that female teachers have not enough time for changing over to e-learning in spite of their double workload at school and at home

About problems and troubles caused by the use of ICT I can say that the existence of such platforms must have supplementary databases which should keep intact the entire equipment, since there can appear several failures: •

computer failures

•

viruses

•

network troubles

•

software piracy

We gave some questionnaires to our experts , students and teachers to see the level and necessity of using ICT in the schools and we gave some results : Scale

ICT used ICT used by by teacher student s

developme nt School of Support educational e-learning for ICT and into teachers e-learning curricula

Positive attitude for ICT and e-learning

problems caused by the use of ICT

teachers experience to make own materials

materials published for teachers

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly

0 1 2

0 1 1

0 0 3

0 1 3

1 2 3

0 0 3

0 0 0

0 1 4

0 0 3

agree

6

7

6

5

3

6

9

4

6

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ICT used by ICT used by students teachers

school suport for teachers

development e-learning of into curricula educational ICT and elearning

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

positive atitude for ICT and elearning

problems teachers materials caused by experience published for the use of to make ow n teachers ICT materials

Strongly agree

“here is enough time for the education through ICT and e-learning, and the national curriculum gives the ICT 2 classes a week. There are situations when teachers adjust easily to the implementation of e-learning but they make considerable supplementary efforts both in school and at home. The teachers are guided and encouraged by the school to adjust to these new methods. There is a large number of teachers who use this system and the European dimension, if I may say so, is implemented in our school by e-learning, which is a method used especially in English, French and History classes. I totally agree with the ICT education and with the use of e-learning at a large scale. “

In conclusion, the use of the new technologies facilitates new relationships among institutions, community, teachers, family and the person who studies. The global educational balance has changed from the closed pedagogical approach, trusted to an institution where the educational coordination was done by the teacher, without involving the family, to an open, transparent pedagogical approach, where the students’ initiative is encouraged, making them aware of the need to create continuous learning abilities.

Bibliography: http: //www.edu.ro http://www.google.ro www.e-scoala.ro Mihaela Poroch - coordinator project for Romania GRUP SCOLAR TEHNIC DE TRANSPORTURI CAI FERATE IASI