Conference Presentations by Simona GABUREANU
The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences, 2019
The paper is based on the experience of the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest regarding the imp... more The paper is based on the experience of the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest regarding the implementation of the managerial policies for the employees’ support and provides a comprehensive image on the factors involved in the implementation of the decision regarding the setting-up of a pre-university educational organization for the children of the University’ s employees. The motivation of this initiative lies in the need to adopt the European standards regarding the facilities and the quality of the services
provided by the University to its own employees, in order to improve the working conditions. In many countries of the European Union there are schools for the teachers' children, thus being facilitated the access
to school for the children of their own employees. The synchronization of the parents’ and children's programs helps to reduce the teachers' efforts to raise and educate children. Among the benefits there is also reducing the distances between the parents' workplace and the place where the children are taught and cared for. Moreover, due to the special link with the university, the pupils will benefit from special educational resources such as laboratories from multiple technical areas. The paper presents the
organizational context in which this innovative solution was introduced, the regulations for the organization of the educational process in the Primary School POLITEHNICA and the resources of the instructional
activities. A special attention is paid to the implications of this initiative on the individuals -the employees and the organization.
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Virtual Learning, 2015
While Google is providing some customised applications for free for educational institutions and ... more While Google is providing some customised applications for free for educational institutions and for teachers, several accompanying initiatives are aiming to boost the usage of these applications and presumably to help teachers to meaningfully integrate them into learning. Teacher training programmes were started in several countries. In Romania, teachers were trained in 2014 and 2015 mainly through two specific courses, one face-to-face and one online. The paper presents the result of an evaluation researchon the teacher training programmes, conducted in mid-2015 by a team of researchers in education, with the purpose to provide stakeholders-teachers, trainers, education experts-withrelevant information about teachers' training needs, programmes` implementation, programmes` results and impact. Whichever the form of organization, the courses were very well received by the participants teachers, who found it helpful, complementing their pedagogical and disciplinerelated skills. With Google tools, teachers are more efficient in solving administrative tasks, they have more professional development opportunities, participate more in collaborative educational projects and succeed to create more interactive activities for their learners. Students participate more in activities including online applications, understanding better the learning content and being more creative.The evaluation reveals as well several downsides and bottlenecks in the transfer of the training acquisitions to everyday teaching and learning, related to managerial support, motivation, prerequisite skills. However, whilst not new to teachers and even less rooted in pedagogy, the training in using ICT tools to support their everyday teaching seems to have a new dimension when a big name such as Google is endorsing it, providing new incentives for education innovation supported by new technologies.
ICVL 2019 – PROCEEDINGS OF THE 14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VIRTUAL LEARNING, 2019
The ability to think critically has always been important, but nowadays is a must for the citizen... more The ability to think critically has always been important, but nowadays is a must for the citizens of the 21st century.A considerable body of evidence shows that thinking skills courses have positive effects that are transferable to a wide variety of situations. The paper presents the results of an investigation conducted in the University Politehnica of Bucharest, with the aim of identifying the level of critical thinking (CT) skills to students, future ICT professionals, attending the teacher training program. Starting from the premise that the self-perception of thinking skills is a good predictor of academic performance, we aimed to create a CT skills profile and to analyse it in relation with the CT skills required in the field of education. The measure (self-assessment) of students' CT skills is a part of the process of empowering pre-service teachers for socio-scientific issues-based instruction.
Papers by Simona GABUREANU
The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, May 24, 2017
Authors: Petre Botnariuc Institutul de ?tiin?e ale Educa?iei Stirbei Vod?, 37, 010102, Bucure?ti.... more Authors: Petre Botnariuc Institutul de ?tiin?e ale Educa?iei Stirbei Vod?, 37, 010102, Bucure?ti. Email: bpetre[at]ise.ro Simona G?bureanu Universitatea Politehnica Bucure?ti Splaiul Independen?ei Str. No 313, Bucharest 060042, Romania E-mail: simona.gabureanu[at]upb.ro This article aims to complement through an content analysis endeavour the quantitative approach adopted by a programme evaluation, research that was conducted in 2015 by a team of researchers. The evaluation has addressed the training programme ,,Google for education" which aimed to develop teachers skills in employing in ones own activity of the different Google applications (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, sheets, forms, sites, Google+). The investigation aimed to reveal the added value of the training programme. The quantitative data set was collected through a questionnaire distributed through the ,,Google for education" communities and through the iTeach platform addressed to the professional development of teachers in preuniversitary education. For the analysis 159 answers were validated as attendants to the formal training session in using the Google apps in education from the total of 161 teachers who have actually filled in the questionnaire. The content for the qualitative analysis consists in the discussions taking place in 13 counties from Romania, which could be identified online. In this paper we will explore the trainees preferences and difficulties encountered in applying the Google tools in the process of resources and learning management, with a focus on the way in which the google groups are used as a mean of communication and collaboration in the professional communities of teachers from din 13 counties (Arge?, Bistri?a-N?s?ud, Boto?ani, Bra?ov, Br?ila, Bucure?ti, Constan?a, D?mbovi?a, Giurgiu, Hunedoara, Mehedin?i, Mure?, Timi?). We have used a mixed methodology of analysis with quantitative and qualitative treatment of the collected data (questionnaire applied to the trainees of the training programme and content analysis of the online discussions forums). The focus of analysis was on the effectiveness of the training programme and on building a teachers learning community as well as to provide a set of suggestions for improving the future training activities. The quantitative results are analysed and further explained against the qualitative results taking into account different factors: type of training provider type, trainees preferences for training, opportunities, difficulties and factors of success in application in preparation activity and actual classes, areas, extent and frequency of application, participants estimated training impact on educational design and classes, teaching experiences. The analysed effects of training include: use of Google apps for management and school-family collaboration, better integration of google apps in the teaching, integration of google apps in the learning tasks, use of state of the art teaching methodologies (pupil and competence centeredness), introducing creative methods and strategies in the learning situations, relevance and practicality of the learning activities, opportunities for collaborative learning and team work, personalised and individualised learning, as well as interactive and participative learning, adequate, varied evaluation methods and tools, exploitation of received feedback for ones own improvement and professional development. In what the outcome of the training is concerned the following topics will be analysed: increased learning performance for pupils, attractiveness of learning activities, facilitation of retention, comprehension and higher order thinking skills, encouragement of both demanding students and high performing students, facilitation of creative approaches in learning, better and increased use of google apps for individual study, better communication with the students, increased individual involvement in collaborative projects, more effective resource management.
Teachers play a key role in modernising education. Their competences have a direct effect upon st... more Teachers play a key role in modernising education. Their competences have a direct effect upon students' achievements. In the context of rapid technological, economic, social and cultural change, teachers are facing new demands as well as changes in their professional roles. The quality of continuous professional development is essential not only for improving educational performance, but also for enhancing teachers' professional identity, responsibility and awareness of their own professional development. The project titled Continuous Professional Development of Technological Sciences Teachers in the Knowledge Society, co-funded by the European Commission through the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development, provided technological sciences teachers in Romania with relevant opportunities for continuous professional development, consisting in teacher training and experience exchange with teachers in this specific curricular area, using a collaborative online platform. A blended instructional approach was used in the curriculum design and delivery of the course modules - Habilitation on Curriculum, and Continuous Professional Development on Differentiated Instruction. This paper aims to present some findings of the evaluation report on the teacher training program mentioned above, following: the curriculum design and program implementation; the impact of the training program; the program outcomes, according to the perceptions of the direct beneficiaries - technological sciences teachers; the degree of the portal accessibility and usage. The retrospective appreciation of the training program value is subsumed to the objectives of providing education and training professionals with recommendations for improving the training program and activities promoted through the portal, and developing similar programmes at local, regional or national level.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Apr 1, 2013
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, May 1, 2015
8th International Conference eLearning and Software for Education
Today, the professional of the education system is proactive, open to innovation, anchored in the... more Today, the professional of the education system is proactive, open to innovation, anchored in the technological, pedagogical and academic actualities, available to collaborating and sharing with colleagues. New environments, tools and ideas are emerging from enhanced and open education practices, and a series of new skills, both pedagogical and technological, is constantly brought up-front as a key enabler or integrator for the assembly of the new roles and tasks of today’s education practitioner. The paper approaches the changes of the technological and pedagogical frameworks, focusing on two basic elements of education practice: the learning task and the feedback, in the light of a computer-assisted language learning situation. The focus is on specific computer-assisted language learning situations and learning materials that aim to foster the development of language in use. Communication skills in different communication contexts are developed through practice, rather than consid...
Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Social Sciences, 2019
Social-affective behavior depends to a large extent on the establishment of fair relationships be... more Social-affective behavior depends to a large extent on the establishment of fair relationships between family members. The way in which each parent relates to his or her own child is influenced by the education he receives as an adult, the educational level, the values, the attitudes and the conception of his world and life. In most cases, together with the educational influences of the family, come also from those of the school institutions. The framework of the school goes beyond the narrow horizon of the family and puts new demands on children, very different from those in the family and, above all, from school education. The primary school gives him new interactions, the ones with the teacher being totally different. It preserves the effective availability of the mother but distributes them in the group. It is the primary school teacher who organizes varied and interesting activities, communicating them and teaching them special things. Accepting hypotheses, detailed in this research, is an additional argument to reflect on the impact that parental education has on the child's social-emotional behavior and the importance to corellate with the teacher style. The start of harmonious development, social integration, is given by parents, the subsequent development of the school being influenced by the foundations in the family. Hence the need for the foundations to be put in love and control, the parent striving to fulfill an important purpose for his child's life.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2013
Proceeding of the 11th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education, 2015
Teachers play a key role in modernising education. Their competences have a direct effect upon st... more Teachers play a key role in modernising education. Their competences have a direct effect upon students' achievements. In the context of rapid technological, economic, social and cultural changes, teachers are facing new demands as well as changes in their professional roles. The quality of continuous professional development is essential not only for improving educational performance, but also for enhancing teachers'professional identity, responsibility and awareness of their own professional development. The project titled Continuous Professional Development of Technological Sciences Teachers in the Knowledge Society, co-funded by the European Commission through the Sectoral Operational Program Human Resources Development, provided technological sciences teachers in Romania with relevant opportunities for professional development: teacher training program and experience exchange with teachers in this specific curricular area, using a collaborative online platform. A blended instructional approach was used in the curriculum design and delivery of the course modules-Habilitation on Curriculum, and Continuous Professional Development on Differentiated Instruction. This paper aims to present some findings of the evaluation report on the teacher training program mentioned above, as follows: the curriculum design and implementation of the training program; the impact of the training program, the program outcomes, according to the perceptions of the direct beneficiaries-technological sciences teachers; the degree of the portal accessibility and usage. The retrospective appreciation of the training program value is focused on the objectives of providing education and training professionals with recommendations for improving the training program and activities promoted through the portal, and developing similar programs at local, regional or national level.
Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Social Sciences, 2019
Social-affective behavior depends to a large extent on the establishment of fair relationships be... more Social-affective behavior depends to a large extent on the establishment of fair relationships between family members. The way in which each parent relates to his or her own child is influenced by the education he receives as an adult, the educational level, the values, the attitudes and the conception of his world and life. In most cases, together with the educational influences of the family, come also from those of the school institutions. The framework of the school goes beyond the narrow horizon of the family and puts new demands on children, very different from those in the family and, above all, from school education. The primary school gives him new interactions, the ones with the teacher being totally different. It preserves the effective availability of the mother but distributes them in the group. It is the primary school teacher who organizes varied and interesting activities, communicating them and teaching them special things. Accepting hypotheses, detailed in this research, is an additional argument to reflect on the impact that parental education has on the child's social-emotional behavior and the importance to corelate with the teacher style. The start of harmonious development, social integration, is given by parents, the subsequent development of the school being influenced by the foundations in the family. Hence the need for the foundations to be put in love and control, the parent striving to fulfill an important purpose for his child's life.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015
The paper aims to present the results of a study on learning motivation and satisfaction in a ble... more The paper aims to present the results of a study on learning motivation and satisfaction in a blended learning program addressed to teachers, with the emphasis on particular aspects associated with their professional roles and level of the evolution in the teaching career. Data were collected form direct beneficiaries in a teacher training program and education experts. Part of a broader research aiming to identify the directions for the optimization of the blended learning strategies, the study reveals the need to move from teacher training providers' individual initiatives to a strategic approach of the blended learning programs promotion.
The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences, 2017
The paper presents the results of a study on students’ and employers’ perceptions of the employab... more The paper presents the results of a study on students’ and employers’ perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates in engineering. The main objectives of the research are: to explore the perception of Master’s students concerning their own skills, knowledge and characteristics which help them to be employable; to explore the students’ perception of the targeted job; to identify the employability skills followed by the employers in the recruitment process and in the next period, right after hiring; to assess whether there are differences in the perception regarding the motivating factors at the workplace, between employers and students. In order to explore issues pertinent to the research objectives, interviews with students, young graduates of technical degree programs provided by the University Politehnica of Bucharest, and employers were conducted. Students were asked to specify both subject-specific competences and the transversal competences owned. These data were complemented with the employers’ views on graduates’ employability. The focus was on exploring their opinions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of graduates/ probationers, during the interview/ or in the next period, right after hiring. The employers’ opinion concerning the facilities offered to graduates and young employees revealed the nature of their partnership with the higher education institution, in order to promote employability. The research findings were used for identifying and choosing the best useful tools and developing specific materials that support the work of counseling to career planning for students in the target group.
Journal of Education Sciences and Psychology no. 1/2020 X(), 2020
In scientific literature, digital literacy and ICT literacy are defined by emphasizing the import... more In scientific literature, digital literacy and ICT literacy are defined by emphasizing the importance of higher-order thinking skills for performing various tasks in the digital environment. According to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), "digital literacy is more than technological know-how: it includes a wide variety of ethical, social and reflective practices that are embedded in work, learning, leisure and daily life". The present research investigates whether there are statistically significant differences between the results obtained by female students and male students (within the critical thinking competence), in case of applying a self-perception instrument of critical thinking, consisting of 6 dimensions: Selfregulation, Explanation, Evaluation, Inference, Analysis, Interpretation. The correlation between the 6 dimensions is also analyzed and there are described ways of developing them, from the teaching perspective.
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Conference Presentations by Simona GABUREANU
provided by the University to its own employees, in order to improve the working conditions. In many countries of the European Union there are schools for the teachers' children, thus being facilitated the access
to school for the children of their own employees. The synchronization of the parents’ and children's programs helps to reduce the teachers' efforts to raise and educate children. Among the benefits there is also reducing the distances between the parents' workplace and the place where the children are taught and cared for. Moreover, due to the special link with the university, the pupils will benefit from special educational resources such as laboratories from multiple technical areas. The paper presents the
organizational context in which this innovative solution was introduced, the regulations for the organization of the educational process in the Primary School POLITEHNICA and the resources of the instructional
activities. A special attention is paid to the implications of this initiative on the individuals -the employees and the organization.
Papers by Simona GABUREANU
provided by the University to its own employees, in order to improve the working conditions. In many countries of the European Union there are schools for the teachers' children, thus being facilitated the access
to school for the children of their own employees. The synchronization of the parents’ and children's programs helps to reduce the teachers' efforts to raise and educate children. Among the benefits there is also reducing the distances between the parents' workplace and the place where the children are taught and cared for. Moreover, due to the special link with the university, the pupils will benefit from special educational resources such as laboratories from multiple technical areas. The paper presents the
organizational context in which this innovative solution was introduced, the regulations for the organization of the educational process in the Primary School POLITEHNICA and the resources of the instructional
activities. A special attention is paid to the implications of this initiative on the individuals -the employees and the organization.