Archives for higher education

Education

Digital Tools in the Educational Environment Empower Student Collaboration. A Study Case in Higher Education

Today educational institutions participate actively in empowering students to get involved in projects, to participate but also to collaborate in this major change in order to overcome internal and external vulnerabilities in the learning process. Digital education has great potential for innovations and investments, offering huge opportunities for universities to allow digital transformation and allow students to learn in their rhythm. Academic researchers are trying to secure the vulnerabilities of the online environment in higher education through the development of multiple digital tools. The work is based on a qualitative methodological approach, through content analysis. Content analysis was used as the main technique of data collection and analysis, from the specialised literature, from international databases, regarding the importance using digital tools in the higher education environment. Based on content analysis, this research presents the most important tools that support digital collaboration among students by offering a study case for overcoming learning barriers and focusing on students' creativity in how they approach problem-solving. The study case is based on "Six Thinking Hats" and it is used to support creative thinking in achieving a good collaboration between teams in an educational project. The tools that support digital collaboration among students facilitate communication, increasing the opportunities for academia to interact with as many users as possible.
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Education

Aspects of the Vocational Education and Training of Tertiary Education Graduates

On the labour market, an important aspect is the resizing of jobs due to automation, respectively globalization. Technological changes have led to the need to acquire higher skills. The acquired knowledge and skills can lead to an increase in the ability of graduates to enter the labour market. Thus, for the member countries of the European Union, the article presents an analysis of the share of the population with age between 25 and 64 years, with a tertiary level of education. Likewise, the degree of insertion of graduates of tertiary education programs can be influenced by the economic activities carried out by economic agents. Analysis of employment rates for graduates of tertiary education programs is important. From this point of view, an analysis of the educational fields of the graduates is presented. The used comparative statistical analysis considered the study of the evolution of the number of tertiary level graduates, as well as of the educational fields, for the period 2013-2020, for the member countries of the European Union. Also, the 25-64 age group was selected, and for this the evolution of the share of people with tertiary education was studied. The importance of the degree to which graduates occupy a job after graduation, led to the selection of another indicator - the employment rate (for the period 2012-2021).
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Education

Educational Breakout as a Learning Strategy in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language

Breakouts are learning strategies that can stimulate the motivation of learning through challenges. During an educational breakout session, students must work as a team and use their reasoning, knowledge, and skills to solve puzzles and challenges related to the content of the curriculum in a limited time. This study intends to examine the impact of educational breakouts on classroom flow, academic performance, motivation, behaviour, and overall satisfaction of the first-year students of Applied Modern Languages, West University of Timişoara. In performing this experiment quantitative and qualitative techniques were used and the results showed a significant improvement in classroom engagement, flow, the feeling of well-being, autonomy, and loss of the notion of time and support the conclusion that the use of educational breakout is fun and motivating for students and facilitates knowledge accumulation.
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Education

The Role Of Individual Study In Professional Training In Higher Education In The Context Of Online Education

The fast pace of change, has generated a new format of education, adjusted to the new realities and the online regime. In this context, we set out to investigate the professional training of university students and to discover new ways of completing higher education degrees. In order to better understand the specifics of online education, we asked students (N = 334) from the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest to express their opinion on the importance of the skills acquired from university for their professional career and individual study methods that can improve and complete university studies. During the research, we applied a questionnaire and conducted interviews with students, in the period of time spanning from March to June 2021. Our analysis led us to the following finding: in the context of online learning, students must, on the one hand, have access to high quality university education, relevant to life, social integration and their affirmation on the labor market, and on the other hand, to and discover their potential and professional niche, which should be developed through individual study.
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Education

Congruence Of Educational Outcomes With Labour Market Demand From Higher Education Graduates’ Perspective

This paper aims to emphasize the impact of the educational process on graduates' transition into the labour market. It is explored the matching/mismatching between skills supply and skills demand for higher education graduates entering the labour market. An online graduate survey was conducted exhaustively to bachelor's degree graduates at a large western Romanian university, returning 856 valid responses. The study had a longitudinal character, being applied in two stages, 6 months and 12 months after graduation. Analysing the matching of educational outcomes with labour market demand turns out that only theoretical skills were provided to students above the labour market demand. Also, the results highlight that the graduates' job satisfaction increases proportionally to the degree of congruence between the studies completed and the job held.
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Education

The Perception Of Romanian Students Regarding The Corporate Social Responsibility Practices Identified In The Tertiary-Level Education Sector

Due to the ascending responsible trends, companies, institutions and even individuals have the opportunity, nowadays, to reconceive their practices and, therefore, contribute to the development of collective wellbeing. In this regard, corporate social responsibility may be perceived as an appropriate instrument. Corporate social responsibility extends beyond traditional business practices by establishing a positive behavior based on ethical, legal, and philanthropic principles, willingness to educate individuals, to support and sustain the environment, society and future generations. Universities and businesses alike should be able to provide coherent explanations to the emerging realities of the environment and society. The higher-level educational institutions’ primary function is to consider and fulfill the expectations of the society in which it operates. Hence, forming professionals in a responsible manner has to become one of the main objectives of the academic environment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the social responsibility of a reputable university located in Bucharest, from a legitimate stakeholder perspective, respectively, the student.
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Education

Interdisciplinary Ideas for Fostering Social Connectedness Through Civic Involvement of Higher Education Students In Times Of Crisis

This theoretical paper proposes an educational solution based on interdisciplinary curricular development (i.e., elements of neuroeducation, applied evolutionary psychology), which refers to the insertion in the existent curricula of a learning objective that has the potential to foster the development of social connectedness of HEI students in times of crisis. This learning objective is designed to increase the awareness of the students towards the mental health and survival-related benefits of helping others in needs not only to the beneficiaries from the community, but also to themselves. Also, it is assumed that this learning objective has the potential to foster the interest of the academic staff towards considering Service-Learning educational strategy as a valuable tool in the context of accomplishing the third mission of Higher Education Institutions.
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