MITx - online interactive learning platform

MIT launches online learning initiative.

"MIT expects that this learning platform will enhance the educational experience of its on-campus students, offering them online tools that supplement and enrich their classroom and laboratory experiences. MIT also expects that MITx will eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world."

Ref.: http://web.mit.edu/press/2011/ , MIT OpenCourseWare, Open Access Articles, Education and Research

Teaching with technology: Class Management Tools, Digital Documents, Image Services, Software, Video, Web Services

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Mathematics in Movies

Mathematics in Movies: Prof. Oliver Knill, Department of Mathematics Harvard University.
-Ref.: www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/

"During the years, I developed also a passion for mathematical problems in computer science especially for various inverse problems, whether it is in analysis, geometry or cryptology. Inverse problems in computer vision are currently at the top my list. Here is some work done in the Summer of 2007 with Jose Ramirez which continued with a award winning master thesis of Jose at the extension school. Elizabeth Slavkovsky currently writes a thesis on 3D printing in education." Oliver Knill
- Ref.: www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/math/

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PageRank and Google

The name "PageRank" is a trademark of Google, and the PageRank process has been patented (U.S. Patent 6,285,999). However, the patent is assigned to Stanford University and not to Google. Google has exclusive license rights on the patent from Stanford University. The university received 1.8 million shares of Google in exchange for use of the patent; the shares were sold in 2005 for $336 million. (Google history)

PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page-Rank) and Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine.

Relevance: As Larry said long ago, we want to give you back “exactly what you want.” When Google was founded, one key innovation was PageRank, a technology that determined the “importance” of a webpage by looking at what other pages link to it, as well as other data. Today we use more than 200 signals, including PageRank, to order websites, and we update these algorithms on a weekly basis. For example, we offer personalized search results based on your web history and location. (www.google.com)

Note: Massimo Marchiori - He was the creator of HyperSearch, a search engine where the results were based not only on single pages ranks, but also on the relationship between the single pages and the rest of the web. Afterwards, Google co-founders Page and Brin cited HyperSearch when they introduced PageRank. He is one of the co-authors of the world standard for privacy on the Web, P3P. He started the XML Query effort at W3C, and is one of the authors of the XQuery family of world standard for querying information on the Web.
Ref.: Page, Lawrence and Brin, Sergey and Motwani, Rajeev and Winograd, Terry (January 29, 1998). "The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web." (Stanford University, Retrieved May 12, 2011)
- http://ilpubs.stanford.edu:8090/422/1/1999-66.pdf

"Since it is very difficult even for experts to evaluate search engines, search engine bias is particularly insidious. A good example was OpenText, which was reported to be selling companies the right to be listed at the top of the search results for particular queries [Marchiori 97]. This type of bias is much more insidious than advertising, because it is not clear who "deserves" to be there, and who is willing to pay money to be listed."

"Moore’s Law was defined in 1965 as a doubling every 18 months in processor power. It has held remarkably true, not just for processors, but for other important system parameters such as disk as well. If we assume that Moore’s law holds for the future, we need only 10 more doublings, or 15 years to reach our goal of indexing everything everyone in the US has written for a year for a price that a small company could afford. Of course, hardware experts are somewhat concerned Moore’s Law may not continue to hold for the next 15 years, but there are certainly a lot of interesting centralized applications even if we only get part of the way to our hypothetical example."
Ref.: The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems 30: 107–117, 1998.
- http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/papers/google.pdf (pdf)

Google philosophy (Ten things we know to be true)
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
"The world is increasingly mobile: people want access to information wherever they are, whenever they need it. We’re pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions for mobile services that help people all over the globe to do any number of tasks on their phone, from checking email and calendar events to watching videos, not to mention the several different ways to access Google search on a phone. In addition, we’re hoping to fuel greater innovation for mobile users everywhere with Android, a free, open source mobile platform. Android brings the openness that shaped the Internet to the mobile world. Not only does Android benefit consumers, who have more choice and innovative new mobile experiences, but it opens up revenue opportunities for carriers, manufacturers and developers."

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InTech - Books and Journals

InTech is a multidisciplinary Open Access publisher of books and journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine: www.intechopen.com

InTech is a world leader in the provision of STM Open Access content, including books and journals. We break down the traditional barriers to becoming published and provide authors with new choices and an equal opportunity to share their ideas and the results of their research with the global scientific community.

Ref.: http://www.intechweb.org/

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Invention of the microprocessor

1959 - invention of the integrated circuit: co-inventor Robert Noyce of Intel (UpDate: la 12 oct. 2011 Google a sarbatorit 84 de ani de la nasterea lui Robert Noyce)
1971 - invention of the microprocessor (4004): Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor of Intel and Masatoshi Shima of Busicom.

Ref.: http://www.agora.ro

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Thomas Suarez and Transforming Learning

Thomas Suarez is a 6th grade student at a middle school in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Thomas Suarez - iPhone Application Developer: http://youtu.be/ehDAP1OQ9Zw



Ref.: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

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Premiile CNIV 2011

În cadrul Conferinţei Naţionale de Învăţământ Virtual (CNIV 2011), au fost acordate premii pentru cele mai bune proiecte prezentate. Marele premiu de excelenţă a fost obţinut de lector univ. dr. Silvia Făt de la Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţele Educaţiei a Universităţii din Bucureşti.

Premiile Conferinţei Naţionale de Învăţământ Virtual (CNIV – www.cniv.ro) au fost stabilite pe baza celor 7 criterii de evaluare stabilite de Comitetul Ştiinţific al Conferinţei: Concepte şi idei moderne abordate; Tehnologii folosite şi implementate; Originalitatea conţinutului; Gradul de utilizare în prezent şi în viitor; Gradul de testare şi verificare; Metodologii şi standarde respectate; Complexitatea de elaborare. Pentru fiecare criteriu s-au acordat maxim 5 puncte.

După prezentarea lucrărilor în sesiunile de lucru ale CNIV, cei 350 de evaluatori au trimis prin e-mail punctajele pentru lucrările votate. O lucrare a putut fi votată numai dacă este eligibilă pentru Concursul „Software Educaţional”, adică dacă este publicată în volumul de lucrări la Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti.

Premiile CNIV 2011 au fost acordate pentru un număr de 8 lucrări din cele 54 prezentate în cadrul conferinţei şi publicate la Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti. Premiile au fost sponsorizate de compania Siveco România.

1. Premiul de excelenţă “Centrul Virtual de Excelenţă SIVECO“: Proiectul Multi-Touch. Dezvoltarea de lecţii transdisciplinare în sistemul educaţional din România (Lector univ. dr. Silvia Făt, Universitatea din Bucureşti, Facultatea de Psihologie şi Ştiinţele Educaţiei).

2. Premiul de creativitate “SIVECO“: myGreenTown (Elev Licker Nandor, dr. profesor Corina Toma, Liceul de Informatică „Tiberiu Popoviciu”, Cluj-Napoca).

3. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: Principiile lui Newton (Elevi: Radu-George Rusu, Cristina Adam, Maria Mateescu, Cristinel Miron, Prof. Emanuela Cerchez, Colegiul Naţional “Emil Racoviţă” Iaşi).

4. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: Camil Petrescu – Ultima noapte de dragoste, întâia noapte de război (Elevi: Bogdan Gabriel Mihai, Cristian Cojocaru, Vlad Tarcan, Ionuţ Ungureanu, Prof. Daniela Zaharia, Prof. Mirela Ţibu, Prof. Mariana Grădinariu, Liceul de Informatică „Grigore Moisil”, Iaşi).

5. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: Grecia antică – Între legendă şi adevăr, soft educaţional (Elev Alin Lupu, prof. Cornelia Ivaşc, Prof. Tatiana Solcan, Liceul de Informatică “Grigore Moisil”, Iaşi).

6. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: În pas domol prin lumea acceleratoarelor de particule elementare (Elevi: Cristian Zaharia, Cipriana Anghel, Ioana Bica, Camelia Popescu, Matei Militaru, Prof. Ioana Stoica, Colegiul Naţional de Informatică “Tudor Vianu” Bucureşti).

7. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: AILab – Scripting Language for Artificial Intelligence (Elev Ionuţ Budişteanu, Prof. Mirela Mlisan, Colegiul Naţional “Mircea cel Bătrân” Râmnicu-Vâlcea).

8. Premiul de popularitate “SIVECO“: Învăţarea prin joc – „Aladin şi formulele magice”, Prof. Daly Marciuc, Colegiul Naţional “Mihai Eminescu”, Satu Mare).

Mai multe detalii despre CNIV şi ICVL pot fi accesate aici şi pe paginile oficiale ale conferinţelor (http://c3.icvl.eu, http://c3.cniv.ro). Turneul conferinţelor poate fi vizualizat aici.

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Education and problem-solving

Education and problem-solving vs. Reduced biological stress

"Education may also promote problem-solving skills leading to reduced biological stress responsivity, with favorable consequences for biological aging. Lower educational attainment is associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length in healthy older men and women, and may reflect more rapid cellular aging in lower socioeconomic status individuals." Andrew Steptoe (University College London), “Educational attainment but not measures of current socioeconomic circumstances are associated with leukocyte telomere length in healthy older men and women.” (Original Research Article), by Andrew Steptoe, Mark Hamer, Lee Butcher, Jue Lin, Lena Brydon, Mika Kivimki, Michael Marmot, Elizabeth Blackburn, Jorge D. Erusalimsky, In Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Elsevier Inc., 25, 1292-1298, April 2011. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2011.04.010.

Ref.: www.unibuc.ro/prof/vlada_m/

"Each decision you make, each path you take, each risk you take helps to define who you are and who you will become. Investing the time to think through, investigate, weigh options, and then choosing your decisions carefully creates a better life."
Ref.: Chuck Clayton - www.problem-solving-techniques.com/

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Ladislau Szilagyi

Ladislau Szilagyi (studied Computer Science at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science; graduate in 1978-Informatics), expert of the Software Testing at European Quality Software Trainings (EuroQST)

Ladislau Szilagyi, owner of the EuroQST software training company, has over 30 years experience in IT as a programmer, business analyst, project manager, tester and consultant. He published articles in several software magazines (Testing Experience, Quality Matters, Core), and is a frequent speaker at software testing conferences as SEETEST, Testwarez, CzechTest. He is also an experienced software testing trainer in Romania, helping over 500 testers from Romania to pass the ISTQB foundation or advanced certification. He is the first East-European to obtain the Certified Agile Testing certification as both tester and test trainer. His current focus is on agile testing and he actively collaborates with the Romanian testing community to raise the awareness about the new challenges facing the testers in agile projects.

Ref.: http://www.agile-tester.org/
- http://www.agiletestingdays.com
- Ambassadors of the Agile Testing Days: www.agiletestingdays.com/ambassadors.php (14 - 17 November 2011: Agile Testing Days - Potsdam, Germany)

NOTE: EuroQST offers the following training courses and exams in Europe:
- Certified Agile Tester (CAT / ISQI): www.agile-tester.org/
- Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering (CPRE / IREB): www.certified-re.org/

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Mesaje-Opinii la CNIV 2011

CNIV 2011 în turneu la Universitatea "Babeş-Bolyai" Cluj-Napoca

VIRTUAL vs. REAL | ÎNVĂŢARE vs. CUNOAŞTERE | OM vs. COMPUTER

Mesaje-Opinii la deschiderea CNIV 2011- UBB Cluj-Napoca (I)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw8LXBJxHWg

Mesaje-Opinii la deschiderea CNIV 2011- UBB Cluj-Napoca (II)

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP1cXl7YNR8
- de la stânga la dreapta: Mircea Popovici (Univ. Ovidius Constanta), Ştefan Morcov (Siveco), Marin Vlada (Univ. din Bucuresti), Andrei Mărcuş (UBB Cluj-Napoca), Grigor Moldovan (UBB Cluj-Napoca), Fl. Mircea Boian(UBB Cluj-Napoca)

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Changes: It's good or bad?

SCHIMBĂRI: e bine sau e rău?

Se schimbă lumea, se schimbă mintea noastră, mintea copiilor noştri se schimbă şi ea, se schimbă ştiinţele, teoriile, metodele şi tehnicile de investigare, educaţia noastră se schimbă mereu, profesiile şi locurile de muncă ale oamenilor sunt într-o continuă schimbare, se schimbă mentalităţi, religii şi filosofii, se schimbă mijloacele de transport şi de comunicaţii, se schimbă infrastructura şi relieful, se schimbă OMUL. E bine sau e rău?

Solution: Principles of Learning (The Principles of Learning are condensed theoretical statements summarizing decades of learning research. They are designed to help educators analyze the quality of instruction and opportunities for learning that they offer to students) by Institute for Learning, University of Pittsburgh

Ref.: http://ifl.lrdc.pitt.edu/ifl/

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Alexandru Ţugui: Calm Technologies

Alexandru Tugui is a professor of Economics and Business Administration at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iaşi, Romania.

"Over the last 50 years, technological development has been significantly influenced by computers and associated technologies. The massive investments made in information technology and communication development have benefitted all the world’s economies, and especially the interconnected ones. All business areas have therefore adopted computers as an indispensable tool, and all economic and social processes have come to rely on computers for support and intermediation.
The education field has been, and will continue to be, receptive to the evolutions of information- and communications-related technologies. Educators will use them on a wide scale in projects such as e-books, e-learning, university networks, and digital libraries. Technological miniaturization and steady improvements in performance have resulted in the abandonment of classical technologies (white chalk, blackboard, paper, pencil, etc.) and their extensive replacement by PC tablet, video projectors, intelligent boards, e-pen, and other new applications."

It is most important to emphasize that in coming years the technological context of human society’s evolution will be framed by the following trends:
1. Mobility.
2. Wireless networks.
3. Interoperability.
4. Digitization.
5. Multimedia.
6. Information integration.
7. Standardization.
8. Real-time work.
9. Artificial intelligence.
10. Communication 3G+, 4G.

Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds are online environments where multiple users can interact with one another or with the environment. Some are “immersive 3–D environments” and give users a great deal of freedom in terms of where they go and who they can interact with. Users participate in the world by controlling an avatar, or online persona. An avatar allows a user to choose how much of their real self they wish to portray in the virtual world, potentially allowing them to take onan entirely new identity.
Conclusions
We are convinced that everyday life in cyberspace will involve technology that becomes constantly invisible and increasingly omnipresent. Our insights in the previous paragraphs lead us to conclude that human society will continue to evolve with the support of information and communication technologies. We also anticipate that education using calm technologies can provide solutions to the problems posed by super-technologization and the risk of deculturation. Such technology will remove barriers of language, time, and space between teachers and learners, and help to reduce today’s huge costs for technical education, as well as facilitate the handling of large amounts of knowledge with efficient storage devices and the rapid access to visual and audio resources that offer well-documented, practical experience to students.

Ref.:
Alexandru Tugui, Calm Technologies: A New Trend for Educational Technologies, World Future Review Spring 2011, 64-72,
- http://www.wfs.org/,

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Ioan Pânzaru: Educaţie vs. Cercetare

Prof. univ. dr. Ioan Pânzaru, Rector Universitatea din Bucureşti

“A fi profesor în momentul de faţă este paradoxal, pentru că meseria noastră este concepută de obicei ca fiind o transmitere a cunostinţelor si valorilor către generaţia următoare. Astăzi ni se cere însă mai degrabă să producem cunostinţe noi, cu alte cuvinte suntem evaluaţi drept cercetători si nu drept oameni de catedră. A avut loc o mutaţie în constiinţa publică. Este o epocă în care toată lumea cere serviciului public mai multă responsabilitate si calitate (idee pe care o aplaudăm), dar nu mai este de acord să i se acorde resurse fără un control din ce în ce mai amănunţit. Aceste cerinţe sunt conflictuale, fiindcă educaţia se bazează pe încredere si pe ideea că există un «răspuns corect» pe care îl stie profesorul. Dar profesorii de azi nu mai stiu răspunsul corect, si cel mult pot să vă expună teoria lor proprie despre cum stau de fapt lucrurile. În epoca noastră nu mai există răspunsuri corecte: ceea ce le cerem studenţilor este să aibă capacitatea de a investiga ei singuri. În aceste condiţii, si încrederea devine problematică.” Ioan Pânzaru, Jurnalul Naţional, 17 octombrie, 2011
Ref.: http://www.jurnalul.ro/

Cultură și dezvoltare
"În universităţi se predau idei care, însuşite de tineri şi aplicate în viaţa lor practică şi în profesiune, au efecte la nivelul întregii societăţi. Dacă vom considera că scopul dezirabil al dezvoltării umane este recîştigarea armoniei cu natura, întoarcerea peştilor în rîuri, a păsărilor în păduri, o atmosferă lipsită de emisii industriale, un ocean fără reziduuri şi detritusuri, atunci universitatea se află într-o dilemă. ..." Prof. univ. dr. Ioan Pânzaru, Cuvînt adresat şefilor de promoţie şi cercetătorilor Universităţii din Bucureşti

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Interactiunea digitala si mintea copiilor

SCHIMBĂRI: Se schimbă lumea, se schimbă mintea noastră, mintea copiilor noştri se schimbă şi ea, se schimbă ştiinţele, teoriile, metodele şi tehnicile de investigare, educaţia noastră se schimbă mereu, profesiile şi locurile de muncă ale oamenilor sunt într-o continuă schimbare, se schimbă mentalităţi, religii şi filosofii, se schimbă mijloacele de transport şi de comunicaţii, se schimbă infrastructura şi relieful, se schimbă OMUL. E bine sau e rău?
Ref.: www.unibuc.ro/prof/vlada_m/eduvision2020.php

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Digital interaction and mind of children.

To promote new ocupations: instructional designer, e-Learning developer.

• Mintea copiilor nostri s-a schimbat; avem de-a face cu o noua generatie, care a crescut interactionand permanent cu mijloacele digitale. O astfel de interactiune digitala schimba mintea, prin urmare in scoli avem o minte diferita de mintea copilului de dinainte
• Trebuie sa tinem seama de aceste caracteristici, trebuie ca oferta scolii sa se potriveasca cu mintea acestui copil
• Prima asteptare a noilor minti este urmatoarea: sa aiba acces rapid la o cantitate foarte mare de informatie media. Comparam acum asteptarile lor cu manualele scolare: sunt ele multimedia, sunt ele bogate in informatie, sunt ele usor accesibile? Avem deja o prima discrepanta.
• A doua asteptare a noii generatii de copii: Daca va uitati pe retelele de socializare pe care sunt tinerii, o sa vedeti ca ei contribuie la productie, cu e-continut. Este scoala un loc in care pot contribui cu e-content? Nu, ei pot doar asculta, pot doar invata, dar nu si contribui. Este o setare care incepe sa se produca si de care trebuie sa tinem seama.
• A treia asteptare: tinerii vor sa isi personalizeze produsele sau serviciile. Telefonul vor sa sune intr-un fel, sa arate intr-un fel, calculatorul la fel, conturile de pe retelele sociale sunt si ele personalizate. Isi pot personaliza modul in care invata in scoala?
• Avem aceste asteptari si, pe de alta parte, un mediu care nu le permite sa isi personalizeze modul de invatare.
Deci avem o discrepanta majora intre mintea generatiei digitale si modul in care a fost construita invatarea. Este o disonanta in modul in care a fost construita scoala si aceasta minte. Mintea s-a format din interactiunea zilnica cu aceste mijloace digitale. Cu aceasta minte ei vor judeca profesorii, manualele, scoala. Scoala trebuie sa se recalibreze. Solutiile sunt calea de a sincroniza scoala cu mintea aceasta.

"Our children's minds have changed, we are dealing with a new generation, who grew up interacting permanent with the digital means. Such digital interaction change mind, therefore in schools have a different mind before the child's mind."
Mircea Miclea (Palace of the Parliament, Sept. 16th-17th 2011, eduVision2020, www.eduvision.ro - Shaping the vision of education)

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Classification of Romanian Universities

Clasificarea europeană a universităţilor din România (in romanian).

European Quality Assurance Register-EQAR (EUA) supports implementation of Romanian higher education reforms: Government announces classification of universities (September 06, 2011).
"Around 100 universities (public and private) have now been grouped into three major categories of institutions: research intensive; teaching and research oriented; and mainly teaching institutions, in a move designed to diversify the country’s HE system". Ref.: http://www.eua.be/News/11-09-06
Classification (4.): mvlada.blogspot.com | www.edu.ro

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eduVision 2020-Bucharest, Romania

Shaping the vision of education
Participation at this conference is free of charge.

Palace of the Parliament, Sept. 16th-17th 2011

eduVision 2020 is an international conference aimed to present the newest trends in education and eLearning, best practices on using IT&C in education and a vision for the future of education.

Ref.: http://www.eduvision.ro/, http://www.agora.ro/


Radu Jugureanu, eduVision 2011: "eLearning - Glimpses into the future"

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About Computer Science and Informatics

Computer Science ≠ Informatics

What is Computer Science?
What is Informatics?

Computer Science and Informatics were considered identical terms. Today, the terms are different. The general public sometimes confuses Computer Science with Informatics or Information Technology (IT). Computing (information and knowledge processing) has changed the world and continues to influence nearly every aspect of our lives, including medicine and health care, business and finance, education and training, science and technology, politics and government, and entertainment.

"Computer Science (CS) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science

"Informatics studies the application of information technology to practically any field, while considering its impact on individuals, organizations, and society. It uses computation as a universal tool to solve problems in other fields, to communicate, and to express ideas." Dennis P. Groth, Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, Why an Informatics Degree?, Communications of the ACM, feb. 2010

1. THE UNIVERSITY IOWA

Source: http://www.uiowa.edu/
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/Informatics/index.html

Computer science and Informatics
Computer science is a popular major for first-year students at Iowa. It develops competence in programming principles and methodologies, problem-solving techniques, mathematics, computer systems, data manipulation, and computer applications.
The informatics major combines competence in computational methods with expertise in a particular domain, such as geography or public health, which supports informed decision making.
Informatics students combine courses that provide a strong foundation in computing with work in one of several cognates, creating multidimensional programs that suit the educational and economic needs of the 21st century.


2. ILLINOIS INFORMATICS INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Source: https://www.informatics.illinois.edu/
https://www.informatics.illinois.edu/

"Informatics studies the application of information technology to practically any field, while considering its impact on individuals, organizations, and society. It uses computation as a universal tool to solve problems in other fields, to communicate, and to express ideas.
Formally, informatics is the study of the structure and behavior of natural and artificial systems that generate, process, store, and communicate information. Informatics also includes (1) the study of the cognitive, social, legal, and economic impact of information systems; (2) research and development of technologies needed to implement artificial information systems that enhance our cognitive abilities; and (3) the development and use of advanced information systems in science, engineering, arts, humanities, education, and business. Because so much information can be stored digitally, we can manipulate it by computer. And because there is so much information, computing is often the only way to make information beneficial to humanity.
The ability to handle vast amounts of information cheaply has changed the way we live. Advances in computing power, the World Wide Web, search engines, and large-scale collaborative initiatives like Wikipedia have revolutionized the way knowledge is created and shared. We have new forms of social interaction — from email, IM, and blogs to eBay, Facebook, and YouTube — and collaborative art and entertainment - from Limewire and podcasts to Guitar Hero and Second Life. Information technology (IT) has become a ubiquitous, indispensable component of our everyday lives, helping — or hindering — us as we manage information, create knowledge, and make decisions.
Within the humanities, digital content is changing the way we visualize, present, understand, and experience history and literature. Within the fine arts, artists are using high-tech tools to construct virtual worlds, produce animations, and make music. Within the social, biological, and physical sciences, pattern analysis, data mining, visualization of massive data sets, and large-scale simulation of biological and physical processes, are enabling new discoveries and insights.
To leverage these advances to solve problems across all disciplines requires knowledge of how to represent problems and domain-specific data, how to structure processes, how to handle work-flow, how to manage complexity, and how to interpret results. To fully participate as an informed member of society, we must appreciate the historical, ethical, and social ramifications of these accelerating changes.
Informatics addresses all of these issues and provides tools for handling them."

3. Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine

Source: www.informatics.uci.edu/
"Computing and information technology play an increasingly pervasive role in our daily lives. Informatics is based on recognizing that the design of this technology is not solely a technical matter, but must focus on the relationship between the technology and its use in real-world settings. That is, informatics designs solutions in context, and takes into account the social, cultural and organizational settings in which computing and information technology will be used."
These aspects of computer science form the core of informatics: software engineering, information retrieval and management, programming languages, human-computer interaction, computer-supported collaborative work, ubiquitous computing, privacy and security, and the effects of technology on society.
At its periphery, informatics touches upon many different disciplines, including management, digital arts, visualization, economics, social science, cognitive science, organizational computing, medical informatics, game technology, and many others."

"What was a key topic for study and classroom discussion in the 1970s or 1980s is not necessarily - nor very likely - to be so key in the 21st century. New topics emerge continuously that require prominent positions in curricula, yet we cannot forget the foundations and knowledge that have stood the test of time."
André van der Hoek, Professor and Chair, Department of Informatics

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Complexity of learning process

Learning is a process.

1. What is "complexity"?
2. Predictability, Complexity, and Learning
3. Learning environments are increasingly complex ?
4. Adaptive governance, networks and learning
5. Principles of Learning

Image: Animation of Learning Process, SWWRocBot, A Unique Learning Environment
By Nick Clark, http://swwrocbot.blogspot.com/

Read more: www.unibuc.ro/prof/vlada_m/

Learning from projects and practice

Complexitatea procesului de invatare (in Romanian)

De-a lungul vremii, in toate domeniile stiintifice se schimba teoriile, metodele si tehnicile de investigare, de aceea dinamica cunoasterii umane influenteaza dezvoltarea generala a societatii umane. Pentru a obtine evolutie si eficienta in viata sa, omul trebuie sa se adapteze continuu la aceste schimbari ale cunoasterii. In domeniul educatiei, si in special al invatarii si perfectionarii, aparitia de noi tehnologii ale informatiei si comunicarii (TIC), imbunatatirea teoriilor pedagogice si psihologice, obliga pe elevi/studenti, profesori, parinti si pe specialisti, sa se adapteze la aceste schimbari.

Ce fac elevii si studentii? Ce fac profesorii si parintii? Ce fac specialistii? Ce fac guvernele tarilor?

Models and Solutions: SWWRocBot
An Example
SWWRocBot, A Unique Learning Environment by Nick Clark (Information Science & Learning Technologies, Robotics Coach, School Without Walls); SWWRocBot is a site laying out the Challenges, Solutions and Results that are the foundations of a unique learning environment.
This learning environment is based on the work of Nick Clark, author of "The Geometry of Learning and the Architecture of Knowledge". It will be a multi-disciplinary, interactive and immersive experience (See animation above) with positive outcomes for the following stake holders:
-Students
-Parents
-Teachers
-Administrators
-Mentors
-The School (School Without Walls)
-The City School System
-Community Business Partners
-Community Organization Partners
-Individuals whose talents are required for the success of the program
Source: http://swwrocbot.blogspot.com/

The Need for Clear Definitions
"In any scientific discipline there are many reasons to use terms that have precise definitions. Understanding the terminology of a discipline is essential to learning a subject and precise terminology enables us to communicate ideas clearly with other people. In computer science the problem is even more acute: we need to construct software and hardware components that must smoothly interoperate across interfaces with clients and other components in distributed systems. The definitions of these interfaces need to be precisely specified for interoperability and good systems performance. Computer science already has a number of useful clearly defined models of computation whose behaviors and capabilities are well understood. We should use such models as part of any definition of the term computation. However, for new domains of investigation where there are no appropriate models it may be necessary to invent new formalisms to represent the systems under study."
Alfred V. Aho (Lawrence Gussman Professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University).

Ref.: http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1922682

1. What is "complexity"?

Melanie Mitchell (Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University): I would call this a "deceptively simple" question—in fact, it is one of the most difficult questions of all! The field of complexity arose out of the strong feeling of some scientists that there are deep similarities among certain highly "complex" systems in nature, society, and technology. Examples of such systems include the brain, the immune system, cells, insect societies, economies, the World Wide Web, and so on. By "similarities," I don't mean that there are necessarily a single set of principles that governs these disparate systems, but rather that all these systems exhibit behavior that has been described as "adaptive," "life-like," "intelligent," and "emergent." None of these terms have precise meanings, yet, which makes a formal definition of "complex system" impossible at this time. A system with large numbers of interacting components, in which the components are relatively simple compared with the system as a whole, in which there is no central control or global communication among the components, and in which the interactions among the components gives rise to complex behavior. Here, "complex behavior" refers to the informal terms (e.g., adaptive, emergent) that I listed above.

Ref.: Ubiquity, Volume 2011, Number April (2011), Pages 1-6, http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1967047

2. Predictability, Complexity, and Learning

"One of the most important examples of prediction is the phenomenon of generalization in learning. Learning is formalized as finding a model that explains or describes a set of observations, but again this is useful only because we expect this model will continue to be valid. In the language of learning theory (see, for example, Vapnik, 1998), an animal can gain selective advantage not from its performance on the training data but only from its performance at generalization. Generalizing—and not “overfitting” the training data—is precisely the problemof isolating those features of the data that have predictive value (see also Bialek and Tishby). Furthermore, we know that the success of generalization hinges on controlling the complexity of the models that we are willing to consider as possibilities.”

Predictability, Complexity, and Learning, Neural Computation 13, 2409–2463 (2001) (Articles Communicated by Jean-Pierre Nadal) by William Bialek (NEC Research Institute, Princeton, U.S.A.), Ilya Nemenman (NEC Research Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A., and Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, U.S.A.), Naftali Tishby (NEC Research Institute, Princeton, U.S.A., and School of Computer Science and Engineering and Center for Neural Computation, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)
Ref.: http://www.princeton.edu/~wbialek/our_papers/bnt_01a.pdf

3. Learning environments are increasingly complex?

Book - Handling complexity in learning environments: theory and research
By Jan Elen, Richard Edward Clark, Joost Lowyck, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, 2006, Elsevier Ltd.
What do we mean when we say that "learning environments are increasingly complex"? What do we know about the cognitive processing that occurs during complex learning? How can we provide effective instructional support for students who must learn and apply complex knowledge? These questions, and related issues, have fascinated educators and educational researchers for many years and are they are the focus of this book.

Ref.: http://books.google.com/

4. Adaptive governace, networks and learning
“Learning is therefore essential for stakeholders to develop their ability to deal effectively with new situations and to prepare for change and surprise.” Örjan Bodin ( Adaptive governance, networks and learning)

Ref.: http://www.stockholmresilience.org/2218.html
Halldén, O., Lundholm C. (2009). 25-30 August. Conceptual Change and the Complexity of Learning. Threshold Questions, Meaning making and Contextuality. Paper presented at the 13th conference European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, Amsterdam, Holland.

5.Principles of Learning
- Organizing for Effort
- Clear Expectations
- Fair and Credible Evaluations
- Recognition of Accomplishment
- Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum
- Accountable Talk®
- Socializing Intelligence
- Self-management of Learning

Ref.: http://ifl.lrdc.pitt.edu/

"Research in education demonstrates that, by working hard, virtually all students are capable of high achievement. These findings have caused educators to recognize the primacy of effort, rather than following ingrained assumptions about innate aptitude. Effort-based education research has started to demonstrate that properly focused student efforts not only yield high achievement for all students, but can actually create ability. People can become smart by working hard at the right kinds of learning tasks." Institute for Learning (IFL), University of Pittsburgh.
- http://www.instituteforlearning.org/

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Professor Peter J. Denning

Peter J. Denning is best known for pioneering work in virtual memory. He was a pioneer in the development of principles for operating systems and contributed the memory management methods used in all operating systems. Known for Virtual Memory, Working Set, Principle of locality.
• He made substantial contributions to performance evaluation when that industry was getting launched. Denning has been a major influence in computing education.
• In 1999, he expanded the search for fundamental principles to cover all of computing. The discovery of natural information processes in biology, physics, economics, materials, and other fields convinced him that the basic definitions of computation had to be modified to encompass natural information processes as well as artificial.
• In 2007 ACM gave him a special award for 40 years of continuous volunteer service and the NSF gave him one of two national Distinguished Education Fellow awards.

Learning from failures?
"The key idea is not failure, but learning. The process of embracing uncertainty and adventuring in the mysteries of the world is a learning process. We cannot learn if we do not try. When something we try fails, we seek to understand what made it fail and modify our future behavior when we try again. I don't see learning from failures to be a prediction method, but a practice for blending with the unfolding world.", Peter_J._Denning, An Interview with Peter Denning the end of the future by Brian Branagan, Ubiquity ACM, may 2011

Note: Ubiquity is publication of ACM, Peter J. Denning - Editor-in-Chief; Ubiquity is ACM's peer-reviewed Web-based magazine devoted to the future of computing and the people who are creating it.

Ref.:
- http://innovators-way.com/authors/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_J._Denning
- http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1979464
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a_pO3NYJl0

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Carta universitara si alegeri 2011

Update (11 dec.): Confirmarea Rectorului UB:Profesorul Mircea Dumitru (in sedinta de Senat, in prezenra Ministrului de resort)
Update (15 dec.): Alegerea Rectorului UB: Prof. dr. Mircea Dumitru.
Update (24 nov.): Carta UB avizata de MECTS (sept.2011)
Art. 40.
Cadrele didactice şi cercetătorii din Universitate au următoarele responsabilităţi:
...
b) să-si îmbunătăţească activitatea didactică, având mereu în vedere evaluarea rezultatelor învăţării, autonomia studentului, capacitatea lui de gândire critică, de rezolvare a problemelor, de lucru în echipă, de integrare într-o organizaţie după absolvire;

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1. Consideratii generale
2. Carta UB
2. Carta ASE Bucuresti
3. Carta UMF Cluj-Napoca
4. Clasificare universitati (6 sept.)

Anexa: Top 10 universităţi - Top Shanghai (2010)

1. Consideratii generale
In prezent, universitatile din Romania (de stat si private) desfasoara activitati diverse privind adaptarea organizarii, functionarii si managementului la cerintele prevederilor din noua Legea a invatamantului nr. 1/2011. Cibernetic vorbind, orice sistem este eficient si modern daca are organizare, functionare si management corespunzator misiunii lui.
• Starea actuala a universitatilor este rezultatul contextului general din societate, dar si al starii organizarii, functionarii si managementului de la nivelul fiecarei universitati. Resursa umana este primordiala ca in orice tip de activitate din societate. Aceasta depinde de educatie, sanatate, cultura si de nivelul de dezvoltare a societatii. De aceea, guvernele majoritatii tarilor din lume investesc in EDUCATIE, SANATATE, CULTURA.
• Societatea cunoasterii catre care tinde omenirea, se bazeaza pe o noua abordare a cunoasterii si o noua atitudine a omului fata de dezvoltare si fata de perfectionarea lui profesionala. Mentalitatile invechite, obiceiurile marunte, egoismul uman, interesele ascunse si meschine, lacomia si parvenirea, vor fi marginalizate prin actiuni ferme, reguli si legi clare si precise.
• Unde sunt reguli si legi neclare si incomplete, acolo e mediu propice pentru obstacole si ingradiri ale libertatii si drepturilor cetatenilor, pentru nedreptati aduse cetatenilor sau pentru instaurarea puterii celor mediocrii si, astfel o rasturnare a valorilor in societate.

Concluzii: rezultatele Referendumului universitar (iunie 2011) pentru alegerea modalității de desemnare a rectorului au aratat ca toate universitatile (cred ca nu exista exceptii!) au optat ca rectorul instituţiei să fie ales "pe bază de alegeri generale, prin vot universal, direct, secret şi egal".
Ref.: www.unibuc.ro/n/despre/Rezultate

Alegeri 2011: Noutatea consta in faptul ca la nivelul Departamentelor, Facultatilor si Senatului, precum si la alegerea Rectorului, vor fi "alegeri generale, prin vot universal, direct, secret şi egal". Prin urmare, fiecare scrutin de alegeri necesita metodologii si regulamente. Daca la ASE Bucuresti si la UMF Cluj-Napoca s-au elaborat regulamentele electorale (la UMF Cluj deja s-a stabilit calendarul electoral: a se vedea la sfarsit), la UB acest subiect este abordat mai simplu (se pare ca organizarea alegerilor este transferata facultatilor! e vorba de art. 126): vom vedea cum se va implementa in practica.

2. Carta UB
ref.: http://www.unibuc.ro/ (.pdf)
Observatii de redactare:
- art. 70 si 71 sunt identice
- La cap. V nu exista sectiunea I (incepe cu sectiunea II; probabil inainte de art. 55 trebuie denumita sectiunea I ORGANELE DE CONDUCERE); Carta trebuie avizata de minister, poate se vor depista acestea.

Misiunea unei Universităţii in viziunea UB
Art. 10.
(1) Misiunea Universităţii are trei componente: formare, cercetare şi contribuţie la dezvoltarea societăţii româneşti.
(2) În domeniul formării, Universitatea urmăreşte formarea unor specialişti capabili şi responsabili, înzestraţi cu gândire critică, cu abilităţi de leadership şi de înţelegere a problematicii legate de progresul economic şi social, pentru o societate bazată pe cunoaştere.
(3) Universitatea promovează cercetarea fundamentală şi cea aplicată, în domeniile ştiinţelor exacte, ştiinţelor inginereşti, experimentale, sociale şi umane, cu scopul de a contribui la progresul cunoaşterii, la difuzarea cunoştinţelor ştiinţifice şi a creaţiei artistice, în vederea consolidării unei culturi naţionale integrate în spaţiul european şi deschise la fenomenele de globalizare.
(4) Universitatea contribuie la modernizarea României, prin propunerea de politici publice, de conţinut legislativ, prin inovarea în domeniul practicilor instituţionale, prin inovarea tehnologică şi prin comunicarea publică naţională şi internaţională.

De remarcat alin (4) ce reclama modalitati de implementare. In rest, important este CUM se realizeaza aceasta MISIUNE! Carta universitara trebuie sa indice si sa prevada clar, explicit si fara echivoc modalitatile. Valabil pentru toate universitatile. Pana acum , CUM a fost?

Despre transparenţa decizională
Mi se datoreaza (am trimis propuneri la comisia de redactare) litera n) de la art. 39:
n) dreptul de a fi informat cu privire la deciziile curente ale Senatului, Consiliului Facultăţii şi Consiliului Departamentului.
Trebuie avut in vedere neaparat:
Art. 53.
(1) Pentru validitatea întrunirilor organelor colective de conducere ale Universităţii este necesar un cvorum de prezenţă de cel puţin 2/3 din numărul membrilor respectivelor organe.
(2) Cvorumul de prezenţă se menţionează în minuta şedinţei organului de conducere al Universităţii. Minuta se publică după validarea acesteia în următoarea şedinţă

Despre alegeri
La o sumara investigare, daca nu gresesc, cred ca s-a omis sa se elaboreze un regulament electoral (a se vedea art. 8), asa cum celelalte universitati au realizat.

Noutate: înfiinţarea de societăţi comerciale (art. 19)
Important: Art. 57.
(1) Departamentul este unitatea academică funcţională care asigură producerea, transmiterea şi valorificarea cunoaşterii în unul sau mai multe domenii de specialitate.
(2) Un departament poate avea în compunere, de regulă, între 20 şi 50 de membri titulari; excepţii pot reprezenta departamentele nou înfiinţate în domenii noi sau interdisciplinare. În cazul în care, timp de 3 ani succesivi, numărul membrilor unui departament nu respectă limitele de mai sus, se va proceda la reorganizarea respectivului departament.

Practica studentilor si colaborarea cu mediul de afaceri si piata muncii
- in afara de referirea la practica pedagogica, nu se abordeaza aceasta problema majora a invatamantului superior, de ce oare?
- practica de specialitate este un aspect cu o influenta mare privind formarea de specialisti care sa faca fata exigentelor din piata muncii
- colaborarea cu mediul de afaceri conduce la inserţie mare pe piaţa muncii a absolvenţilor
Nota: exista Legea 258/2007 privind practica elevilor şi studenţilor. Poate este abrogata! Trebuie studiat acest aspect.
Art. 1. - Practica este activitatea desfăşurată de elevi şi studenţi, în conformitate cu planul de învăţământ, care are drept scop verificarea aplicabilităţii cunoştinţelor teoretice însuşite de aceştia în cadrul programului de instruire.

2. Carta ASE Bucuresti

Ref.: http://www.ase.ro/ (.pdf)

Art. 37.
(8) adoptă o metodologie de alegeri pentru reglementarea proceselor elective privind structurile universitare de conducere, în termen de maximum 60 de zile de la data validării raportului comisiei care organizează procesul de votare a modalităţii de desemnare a rectorului;
Art. 45. (1) Procedurile elective sau concursurile publice pentru ocuparea funcţiilor de conducere sunt reglementate prin metodologia elaborată de consiliul de administraţie şi aprobată de către senatul universitar în termen de maximum 60 de zile de la data validării de către senatul universitar a raportului biroului electoral care organizează procesul de votare amodalităţii de desemnare a rectorului.

3. Carta UMF Cluj-Napoca

Ref.: http://www.umfcluj.ro/ (.pdf)

REGULAMENT ELECTORAL, UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINĂ ŞI FARMACIE “IULIU HAŢIEGANU” CLUJ-NAPOCA
-adoptat de Senatul UMF “Iuliu Haţieganu” în data de 28 iunie 2011 –
Art. 22
(1) Candidaturile pentru Consiliul Facultăţii se înscriu pe buletinul de vot grupate pe departamente, cu ordonare alfabetică după numele de familie al candidaţilor din fiecare departament în parte.
(2) Din lista de candidaţi, fiecare elector votează pentru cel mult atâtea persoane câte locuri are Consiliul Facultăţii.
Art. 28
(1) Candidaţii pentru Senat ai unei Facultăţi sunt ordonaţi alfabetic pe buletinele de vot, în ordinea crescătoare a numelui de familie, fără a se ţine cont de departamentul de provenienţă.
(2) Din lista de candidaţi, fiecare elector va vota pentru cel mult atâtea persoane câte locuri are atribuită Facultatea în Senat.

Anexa 1
Calendar de alegeri:
• 15 septembrie 2011 - 1 octombrie 2011 – Desemnare şefi de disciplină; şedinţa de investire sau alegeri la fiecare disciplină.
• 15 septembrie 2011 - 15 octombrie 2011 – Depunere candidaturi pentru Director de departament (CV şi plan managerial) şi depunere CV pentru candidatii in Consiliului Departamentului.
• 15 octombrie 2011 - 7 noiembrie 2011 – Alegeri la nivel de departamente: Consiliul Departamentului; Directorul departamentului; Desemnare candidaţi pentru Consiliul Facultăţii; Desemnare candidaţi pentru Senatul Universităţii
• 8-13 noiembrie 2011 – Desemnarea CEF şi CEU
• 7-21 noiembrie 2011 – Depunere şi afisare pe site-ul Universităţii a CV-urilor candidaţilor pentru Consiliul Facultăţii şi pentru Senatul Universităţii
• 1 octombrie 2011 - 21 noiembrie 2011 – Depunere candidaturi pentru funcţia de Rector
În ziua de 8 decembrie 2011 se organizează o şedinţa de prezentare publică a platformelor electorale ale tuturor candidaţilor la funcţia de rector, cu invitarea întregii comunităţi academice. Procedurile de desfăşurare a acestei şedinţe sunt cele aprobate de Senatul universităţii.
• 1 noiembrie 2011-10 decembrie 2011 – Depunere candidaturi pentru funcţia de Decan
• 15 decembrie 2011 – Alegeri: Consiliile Facultăţilor; Senatul Universităţii; Rector

4. Clasificare universitati (6 sept. 2011)

Clasificarea europeana a universitatilor din Romania
Clasificare realizata de Asociatia Universitatilor Europene (European Quality Assurance Register-EQAR), la solicitarea ministrului român al educaţie.

EUA supports implementation of Romanian higher education reforms: Government announces classification of universities
- Ref.: http://www.eua.be/News/11-09-06


Categoria I (Licenta, Master, Doctorat): Universitati de Cercetare Avansata si Educatie
1. Universitatea din Bucuresti
2. Universitatea “Babes – Bolyai” din Cluj-Napoca
3. Universitatea "Al.I. Cuza" din Iasi
4. Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti (ASE)
5. Universitatea de Stiinte Agricole si Medicina Veterinara din Cluj-Napoca
6. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie “Carol Davila” din Bucuresti
7. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Iasi
8. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie “Iuliu Hateganu” din Cluj-Napoca
9. Universitatea Politehnica Bucuresti
10. Universitatea Tehnica “Gheorghe Asachi” din Iasi
11. Universitatea Tehnica din Cluj-Napoca
12. Universitatea Politehnica din Timisoara

Categoria a II-a (Licenta, Master): Universitati de Educatie si Cercetare Stiintifica
1. Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara
2. Universitatea din Craiova
3. Universitatea Transilvania din Brasov
4. Universitatea “Ovidius” din Constanta
5. Universitatea “Dunarea de Jos” din Galati
6. Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
7. Universitatea din Oradea
8. SNSPA Bucuresti
9. Univ. de Stiinte Agricole si Medicina Veterinara”Ion Ionescu de la Brad” din Iasi
10. Universitatea de Stiinte Agronomice si Medicina Veterinara din Bucuresti
11. Univ. de Stiinte Agricole si Medicina Veterinara a Banatului din Timisoara
12. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie “Victor Babes” din Timisoara
13. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Craiova
14. Universitatea Tehnica de Constructii Bucuresti
15. Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu Mures
+ Universitatile militare si Universitatile de creatie artistica (circa 12 universitati de arte si militare)


Categoria a III-a (Licenta): Universitati de Educatie
- restul

Anexa: Top Shanghai (2010)
Primele 10 universităţi - Top Shanghai
1. Universitatea Harvard, SUA
2. Universitatea Stanford, SUA
3. Institutul de Tehnologie Massachusetts, SUA
4. Universitatea California, Berkley, SUA
5. Universitatea Cambridge, Marea Britanie
6. Institutul de Tehnologie California, SUA
7. Universitatea Princeton, SUA
8. Universitatea Columbia, SUA
9. Universitatea Chicago, SUA
10. Universitatea Oxford, Marea Britanie

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2016: Juno Rockets Toward Jupiter

When the robotic Juno spacecraft reaches Jupiter in 2016, it will spend just over a year circling the Solar System's largest planet, using its unique cadre of instruments to probe the planet, sending back clues of its structure and origin.


Ref.: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110809.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVAMaV7syE&feature=related

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21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age

21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age Project

Ref.: http://www.fluency21.com

Literacy is NOT Enough: 21st Century Fluencies for the Digital Age

Powerful technologies and information systems have caused facts to become obsolete faster, and knowledge built on these facts to become less durable.

Literacy is NOT Enough: The New Learning Process

The New Learning Process covers a fundamental shift in the basic paradigm of teaching that is required to prepare digital students for 21st century life.

What do we do with all this information?

Our society has been irreversibly affected by a new phenomenon in InfoWhelm - an unparalleled access to a wealth of online information, never before seen or heard of. Learning has truly become a lifelong pursuit, and it can happen anytime and anywhere in our Information age. But how do we determine good from the bad, interpret right from wrong, and distinguish complete, accurate, and usable data from a sea of irrelevance and digital inundation? The skills to help us best understand and make use of the wealth of knowledge at our fingertips is essential to life and success both in the classrooms and workforces of the 21st century

Ref.: http://www.fluency21.com

http://www.committedsardine.com/presentations_LNE.cfm

http://www.youtube.com/v/7ECAVxbfsfc?f=videos&app=youtube_gdata

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Multi -Touch Technology & Transdisciplinarity

Content
1. Multi-Touch Technology
2. Transdisciplinarity
3. Romanian Project

1. Multi-Touch Technology

Multi-touch technologies have a long history (Ref: Bill Buxton). What is Multi-touch? Ref.: http://solutions.3m.com (Touch Terminology)
Example. 2011: Surface 2.0 (Microsoft & Samsung) - www.microsoft.com/surface/

Ideas main. About Microsoft Surface:

• 2001: Microsoft researchers Steve Bathiche and Andy Wilson developed idea of interactive table that could understand the manipulation of physical pieces.
  
• 2007: Final structure finalised,interactive tabletop device was built that seamlessly brings both the physical and virtual worlds into one.
  
• Direct interaction: Users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands and interact with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
  
• Multi-touch contact: Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger, as with a typical touch screen, but up to dozens and dozens of items at once.
  

2. Transdisciplinarity

"A NEW VISION OF THE WORLD - TRANSDISCIPLINARITY" by Basarab Nicolescu (Basarab Nicolescu is a major advocate of the transdisciplinary reconciliation between science and the humanities. He has published many articles on the role of science in contemporary culture in journals in France, Romania, Italy, United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and in the USA)

Who is Basarab Nicolescu ? Ref.:
The International Center for Transdisciplinary Research (CIRET)
- http://basarab.nicolescu.perso.sfr.fr/ciret/ro/visionro.htm
- http://basarab.nicolescu.perso.sfr.fr/ciret/indexen.html
- http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basarab_Nicolescu
- http://basarab.nicolescu.perso.sfr.fr/Basarab/index.html
- http://basarab.nicolescu.perso.sfr.fr/Basarab/News.html

"Disciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are like four arrows shot from but a single bow: knowledge . The three pillars of transdisciplinarity - levels of Reality, the logic of the included middle, and complexity -- determine the methodology of transdisciplinary research." Basarab Nicolescu

"In our time, a Pico della Mirandola is inconceivable. Perhaps a Pico della Mirandola in our time could be conceivable if he took the form of a supercomputer into which one could load all the known data which has been generated by all existing disciplines. This supercomputer would be capable of knowing everything while understanding nothing. Its user would be no better off than the supercomputer itself. The user would have immediate access to any results from any discipline, but would be incapable of understanding their meanings, still less of making connections between the results of different disciplines." Basarab Nicolescu
Note 1: 1959: Gold medal at the First International Mathematics Olympiad, Brasov, Romania.
Note 2 : 2010: The ATLAS Ramamoorthy§Yeh Transdisciplinary Distinguished Award, offered by the Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning and Advanced Studies, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, USA. Designated as Co-Editor-in-Chief of "Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering&Science", USA.
Invited Talks (a selection):
- talk The Relationship Between Complex Thinking and Transdisciplinarity at the Symposium on Complex Systems Modeling and Complexity Thinking, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Maison Suger, Paris.
- talk Methodology of Transdisciplinarity - Levels of Reality, Logic of the Included middle and Complexity at the international congress "Transdisciplinary Sustainable Development", Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, USA.

3. Romanian Project

Multi - Touch project: "Educational process optimized in vision of knowledge society skills" Project 2009-2012. Integrated curriculum, inter-and transdisciplinary "Learning in the Knowledge Society"
Ref.: http://transdisciplinar.pmu.ro

"Societatea cunoaşterii presupune nu numai o extindere şi aprofundare a cunoaşterii umane, dar mai ales managementul cunoaşterii şi o diseminare fără precedent a cunoaşterii, către toţi cetăţenii, prin mijloace noi." Mihai Drăgănescu (1929-2010)

(in romanian)
Strategia de postaderare UE 2007-2013.
Proiect Multi - Touch „Proces educaţional optimizat în viziunea competenţelor societăţii cunoaşterii” (Curriculumului integrat, inter- şi transdisciplinar "Învăţare în societatea cunoaşterii"), cofinanţat din Fondul Social European (FSE) si implementat de Unitatea de management al proiectelor cu finanţare externă, din cadrul MECTS, în parteneriat cu SIVECO România şi Universitatea Naţională de Apărare "CAROL I" (Departamentul ADL).
Activitati principale:
- DEZVOLTAREA DE CURRICULUM TRANSDISCIPLINAR (dezvoltarea curriculumului transdisciplinar pentru domeniile stiintific si umanist, aferent nivelului liceal)
- DEZVOLTAREA DE MATERIALE DIDACTICE AFERENTE CURRICULUMULUI TRANSDISCIPLINAR (dezvoltare de aplicatii practice aferente continutului teoretic transdisciplinar, constand in proiecte didactice transdisciplinare
- IMPLEMENTAREA DE CURRICULUM SI MATERIALE DIDACTICE TRANSDISCIPLINARE-FORMARE (organizarea unui concurs de proiecte didactice transdisciplinare -dupa finalizarea implementarii, pentru toate liceele din tara grupate pe regiuni de dezvoltare; pentru fiecare regiune de dezvoltare va fi desemnat un liceu castigator, acesta urmand sa fie dotat cu laborator multi-touch: Achizitia publica de laboratoare multi-touch pentru 8 unitati de învatamânt - Fiecare laborator va contine 4 mese multi-touch, 1 tabla interactiva si videoproiector, 1 server, 1 calculator portabil, toate aceste echipamente fiind integrate într-o retea locala si conectate la Internet.)
- DEZVOLTAREA DE PROIECTE TRANSDISCIPLINARE PE BAZA TEHNOLOGIEI MULTI-TOUCH (continut curricular transdisciplinar adaptat pentru utilizare in cadrul laboratoarelor multi-touch -metodologie de scriere a scenariilor didactice, inclusiv formatul pe baza caruia vor fi elaborate scenariile, dezvoltate)
Concluzii
Utilizarea tehnologiei multi-touch implementează:
• învăţarea activă prin explorare, valorificând rolul pozitiv al erorilor ca parte integrantă a procesului de învăţare; elevii pot crea experienţe greu accesibile din diverse motive (periculozitate, imposibilitate istorică, distanţa în spaţiu, costuri etc.); elevii pot testa evenimentele ce pot interveni într-un sistem dat, modificând variabilele acestora;
• învăţarea prin acţiune, prin transferul de cunoştinţe şi deprinderi în contexte noi;
• învăţarea colaborativă, participativă, bazată pe negociere şi partajare socială a rolurilor în cadrul grupului, dezvoltarea capacităţilor de lucru în echipă şi de raportare la ceilalţi;
• învăţarea bazată pe proiect;
• învăţarea în context.
Ref.: http://transdisciplinar.pmu.ro/resurse

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