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The aim of this paper is to show a preliminary analysis to develop an effective model to enhance teaching and learning foreign languages through technology-supported CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach in the field of physical education. This is the first exploratory phase of a project held at the university of Foro Italico titled “Technology-supported Teaching and Learning for CLIL in Physical Education: in Search of an effective Model” in which we intend to explore the possibility of applying augmented/virtual reality-based tools to CLIL teaching/learning in the context of physical education and sport sciences. The research question aims to explore which technology has a more significant impact on knowledge and content acquisition and can be more easily transferred into a CLIL class. Therefore, we will outline an explorative investigation to highlight the use of augmented reality (AR) as a pedagogical tool to support teaching/learning a foreign language through Physical Education (PE) using the TBLT approach. First, this paper will review the current literature on the application of technology-related educational theories (i.e., “ “Experiential Learning”, “Constructivism”, “collaborative”, TBLT approach). Second, it may be hypothesized that a model for effective foreign language acquisition through physical education to promote understanding, knowledge acquisition and activate productive skills can be developed and some examples of good practices will be provided. The challenge is not only to highlight the implications of the use of the technology-supported CLIL approach and physical education, but to bridge the gap between language and content acquisition through the use of specific technological tools. Finally, in line with the European language policy aimed at enhancing linguistic and cultural diversity as an asset, this study aims at promoting effective professional communication in a multilingual and intercultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern conditions, when the whole world is faced with the coronavirus pandemic, digital educational technologies have become an effective way of organizing the learning process, which has forced all educational institutions to revise this process radically in many ways. Currently, there is an active process of informatization in the education field, aimed at the formation of an intellectually developed creative person, information-oriented, ready for self-development and application of these knowledge in future professional activities. Therefore, it is important for teachers to know what services and for what didactic purposes they can also use in their teaching practice when applying modern technologies. virtual reality and augmented reality are some of the emerging elements that can be used in the modern learning process, including foreign learning. The relevance of the work is due to the fact that the use of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies in foreign languages teaching is a relatively new direction in humanitarian knowledge, but, nevertheless, it is a rather interesting area for research. The purpose of the study is to show the advantages in using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies for the development of students' professional foreign language competence. To solve the set purpose, the methods of description, analysis, and forecasting are used. The article deals with the main stages in the historical background and development of virtualistics; definitions to the basic concepts used in this area are given. The authors present virtual reality as a new technical means in FL learning, as well as analyze the benefits of introducing virtual reality and AR technologies into the teaching process. It is emphasized that virtual reality and augmented reality technologies make learning more visual, enable students to become more active, and involve them in the training process more fully. These technologies make it easier for people who are at a distance to work together. For example, students can meet using virtual reality tools, prepare joint presentations, lead projects, and do much other work almost as effectively as with face-to-face contact in the real world. As a result of the study, material was obtained, the analysis of which made it possible to conclude that now teachers, students and researchers are expected a decisive step to accept the advantages of virtual reality and augmented reality in foreign languages education, so that these breakthrough technologies can become a truly effective tool in foreign languages teaching for students of technical universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the people, at least in developed countries, have access to mobile learning devices. It seems, in the new nomadism, it is difficult to differentiate between workers and learners. Many of the mobile full-time workers are, also, part-time students studying at home or online. Many of the adult students in day-time courses are, also, mobile part-time workers. Technology is and will be used to provide attractive digital to the tablet and smartphone users. The new trend: the augmented reality. The Augmented Reality (AR) is a variation of the virtual media or of the virtual reality allowing the user to see the real world, with overlapping virtual objects or completed with real objects. The AR is an imagined layer overlapping the real world, visible by means of devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets, display glasses and other devices allowing the users to recognise these media which can consist of images, videos, and sounds. As the tablet and smartphone use spread, the augmented reality started being used more and more in every-day life, but also in the educational environment. Are the teachers ready, however? We hereby present, in the first part of this paper, a comparative study based on data obtained within the JOYAR project - Joyful adult training using augmented reality financed by the European Union, data revealing both the degree, and the level of involvement of adults in 6 countries in using new technologies for educational purposes, as well as a possible list of key-competencies required for successfully applying them. Furthermore, we present - in the second part - the advantages of integrating this technology in the teaching activity, but also practical classroom examples, rendering the lessons more animated and much easier to understand; The AR usefulness is limited only by our imagination [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality is a fairly new technology and it has only recently started to be introduced on a large scale. We can find augmented reality applications in a variety of domains, such as entertainment, games, industry, science, tourism, culture, education. In the education system, the mobile phone, as a standalone tool that can be used at any stage of teaching, it is used on a very low scale. Moreover, students are often forced to turn off the phones or put them in a special place at the beginning of a class. Interactive teaching and presenting abstract notions is already achieved through the use of whiteboards or projectors linked to a computer. Similarly, the mobile phone can serve the same teaching purpose. Very quickly, the phone becomes the second nature of children. If we think about the latest augmented reality technology that will be fully experienced by the next generations, smart glasses will probably take control. Over the reality we will be able to see different types of information in real time, overlapped and accessible with voice commands. What we want to emphasize is not a discussion about whether we will have or not the opportunity of accepting these technologies. Instead, we want to raise the awareness that they will exist in a short timeframe and it is important to focus on understanding how they can help in the process of educating children. Regardless of the age or occupation, using a touch screen or classic screen has become as natural as speaking. Augmented reality adopted all the interactions which regular mobile applications have and users can interact with simple and complex touch interactions, natural gestures or speech recognition. This paper will focus on education, technology and augmented reality and tries to point out the advantages and disadvantages of using this technology in a class. Also, it will talk about researches and studies that focused on different applications and experiments using augmented reality and the mobile phone, in different fields of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Museum of the University of Bucharest represents the cultural memory and the institutional identity in the specific field of higher education in Romania. But this mission needs to be adapted to the public nowadays, in cultural contexts that are different from those of the last century, when the museum was founded. The impact of a university museum in society is increasingly based on the diversification of communication paths, with the use of the new media, on the development of new audiences for whom the museum's message is relevant. Also, the university museum must investigate future development directions and opportunities, to be a dynamic and vivid institution. The 21st Century brings with it new and increasingly complex methods of communication for University Museums, ones that allow the public to manage their intellectual needs in their own, customized way. That being said, we're talking about communication through the museum's institutional site, via the various social media platforms, through the online catalogue and portal, which grant access to information regarding the museum's collection. Other interactive elements developed in the 21st century are represented by QR codes, by virtual or augmented reality, these digital breakthroughs being a way for museums not only to attract new types of public, but also to complete the information by making it multisensorial. Our research shows how the aspects mentioned above and others represent the challenges to which the University of Bucharest Museum had to find adequate answers in order to fulfill its mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-aided design and manufacturing is related to usage of a wide variety of technologies for performance of engineering tasks like: analysis, planning, design, simulation, diagnostics, optimization, producing. The integration of CAD /CAM and AR system play an important role in achieving proper understanding of the 2D and 3D graphical objects modelling. This unity becomes a fundamental part of a standard design process. The aim of the paper is to summarize and analyse existing innovative solutions in utilization of augmented reality in computer-aided engineering practice and received knowledge to be used in the courses from Higher education. Also, the exploration about augmented reality usage in teaching, learning and assessment in university courses is performed in order to be chosen technology solution for delivering the knowledge in the context of CAD/CAM systems. The research method for review performing is based on examination of scientific papers indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science, indexed by search engines Google Scholar, Google Search and Semantic Scholar. The keywords augmented reality, CAD, CAM, product design, product manufacturing, engineering, are used for forming several searching queries, investigating the topics concerning AR in CAD/CAM systems. A conceptual meta-model outlining the utilization of augmented reality technology in CAD/CAM systems and application of this knowledge for engineering education is developed. It consists of two parts. The first part describes the AR technology usage in CAD/CAM engineering process that includes several stages in design and manufacturing of products. It can be said that many of the stages are supported by AR for documentation, presentation and experimentation. The second part explains the usage of AR technology in engineering education. An AR-based eLearning system should possess features for teaching, learning and assessment through usage of AR web-based, mobile-based or combined technologies. The summarized knowledge about facilitation of activities in CAD/CAM process through AR will be used for educational purposes and delivered also with AR technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper proposes a new approach of experiential learning, by bringing together the concept of immersive education and an emergent technology: augmented reality. The immersive education tends to resolve the main drawback of traditional education, which is the limited experimentation, and with the help of the evolving technologies, the students can understand the school subjects in a different manner. At present, the theoretical part plays the major role in education, while the experimentation is often ignored or treated superficially, especially when it comes to progressive domains, such as engineering or informatics. By bringing the immersive education closer to students and teachers, they might be able to experience the most important aspects of this domain, in real-time, without sacrificing the good parts of traditional education. The approach presented in my paper is accomplished through an augmented reality system called AREA, which combines the digital and nondigital worlds, in order to foster an interactive and educative way of discovering the inventions that have revolutionized the modern world, thus making students curious about the evolution of modern technology. Using augmented reality, students have the chance to experiment the connection between learning and practicing and how they co-work in order to achieve great success. The application was tested on a group of high school students and on a group of adults specialized on engineering and marketing domains, the results being very intriguing. Besides presenting my system and the way it can be integrated to overcome the current educational challenges (e.g. lack of practical exercises), we also analyzed the use of other existing augmented reality systems, from various domains, that offer similar experiences to the one accomplished by AREA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, technology breakthroughs have made Augmented Reality (AR) applications more user friendly and accessible than ever. New AR technologies show great promise and potential to influence and enhance the activities related to a wide range of areas, such as education, military industry, entertainment, sports or medicine and surgical training. In complementarity with Virtual Reality, AR is now considered to be the future of human-computer interaction, by revolutionizing the way information is presented and transforming the surroundings into one broad user interface. In particular, AR systems will soon play an important role in communication and collaboration, creating innovative collaborative environments that allow multiple users to interact simultaneously. Hybrid interfaces that combine AR technology with existing telecommunication techniques provide immense power and freedom in multi-participant settings where the physical and virtual worlds blend perfectly and form a mixed reality. Their main objectives are to improve the cooperation through augmented face-to-face interactions, to enrich the remote collaboration by virtually co-locating the participants and to augment physical spaces with new modalities of interaction between people. Using latest AR technologies, applications can provide unique collaborative experiences for all domains, supporting new means of communication and socialization and making working together very effective. This paper aims to present a survey on collaborative augmented reality and its potential in various contexts. It thoroughly reviews existing collaborative AR systems in areas like those mentioned above, identifying their accomplishments as well as limitations, and highlighting the most recent discoveries and future trends in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on a new way of learning, based on the concept of immersive education, close related to augmented and virtual reality technologies. These technologies allow young people to experiment, learn and understand many subjects, even in the absence of the supporting physical infrastructure. The concept of immersive education can be implemented using a smart building educational infrastructure. This approach is explained in the paper, using as support the augmented reality and indoor positioning methods. These two main technologies enable teachers and students to experiment a non-traditional way of learning, by using an application which displays interactive content depending on the location of the user: if the student is in the biology lab room, different content regarding biology will be displayed; if the student changes the lab room with the chemistry one, the augmented reality will be full of chemistry experiments, substances and formulas. The goal st h make students learn school subjects with pleasure, to make them understand easily concepts that sometimes cannot be experimented in reality. The mobile application localizes the user in the indoor environment and further augments the reality with different objects, related to the user's position. When computing the position, the orientation is also a key in this solution, because the user should be able to see the object from any orientation. The paper gives some details about the proposed indoor positioning method, justifying the approach, as well as different aspects related to the importance of immersion in this kind of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a highly technologized century, the process of learning must benefit from the advantages of technology. Gamification, artificial intelligence, virtual or augmented environments or adaptive learning are just some of the trends which have evolved in the past years in the field of e-Learning. Collaborative learning is also an efficient learning methodology, where people engage together in learning actions or share one with another their knowledge and resources. Wikis, forums, social media groups are just some examples of successful collaborative learning environments. As the evolution of technology has impacted traditional learning and reading preferences of people, we must think of new ways of improving and modernizing both learning and teaching. Our current paper presents the advantages of using the latest technologies for collaborative learning, with a relevant example from the Lib2Life - Cyber-Physical Library project. Its goal is to revitalize reading and improve the learning process by using emerging technologies, restoring at the same time the popularity of libraries as safeguards of the cultural patrimony. With the help of augmented reality, digitization and optical character recognition, we developed a mobile application meant to help people annotate physical books, view annotations by other users and manage their own social-collaborative library. After registering their favourite books in the application, users can create digital annotations (text, images, videos or links) or see the existing annotations by scanning a book page with their smartphone's camera. Annotations can be rated, commented, shared on social media or on user-configured friend groups, thus creating a collaborative environment which can be easily integrated in a great variety of domains. We present the innovative concept of annotations, which can be used as a tool for selflearning or as a collaborative tool, revolutionizing handbooks and manuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of higher education nowadays is no longer the educator or the educatee, but the educational unit which is usually made up of trainers, trainees, methods, context(s). All these elements contribute to the actual level of competence that defines and describes today's and tomorrow's professionals. The strong link between providers of education and educatees lies within the methods used in courses, but also in the educational context, which relies upon the current social and cultural reality. This is where efficient marketing tools intervene and may even change the course of action. Marketing tools can even be found prior to the course design, as research surveys can highlight and even assign various stages or items which must be included or left out of the content. They can also serve as a means of assessment of the course and/or trainees. This way, online mobile learning, gamification, social media, augmented reality become the partners of all participants in the educational process. We consider this a win-win situation for the actors who are involved in the program (providers, direct beneficiaries, indirect beneficiaries). Teachers can observe the reactions and other forms of feedback sooner than ever before, and students can acquire and practice new competences in an interactive way. The focus in our current initiative is the development and further use of modern educational strategies and methods in Romania while using modern tools to gain the interest and awareness of educators and (potential) students in a variety of fields or even highly specialized subfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of higher education nowadays is no longer the educator or the educatee, but the educational unit which is usually made up of trainers, trainees, methods, context(s). All these elements contribute to the actual level of competence that defines and describes today's and tomorrow's professionals. The strong link between providers of education and educatees lies within the methods used in courses, but also in the educational context, which relies upon the current social and cultural reality. This is where efficient marketing tools intervene and may even change the course of action. Marketing tools can even be found prior to the course design, as research surveys can highlight and even assign various stages or items which must be included or left out of the content. They can also serve as a means of assessment of the course and/or trainees. This way, online mobile learning, gamification, social media, augmented reality become the partners of all participants in the educational process. We consider this a win-win situation for the actors who are involved in the program (providers, direct beneficiaries, indirect beneficiaries). Teachers can observe the reactions and other forms of feedback sooner than ever before, and students can acquire and practice new competences in an interactive way. The focus in our current initiative is the development and further use of modern educational strategies and methods in Romania while using modern tools to gain the interest and awareness of educators and (potential) students in a variety of fields or even highly specialized subfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education is undergoing a continuous change due to both the students, and the newly developed technologies. The evolution of technology is undergoing a constant make-over and it affects the teaching - learning strategies all over the world. The integration of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), MR (mixed or merged reality), TBL (team-based learning) in the teaching activity gives new opportunities to teachers and students alike to teach/learn new information in various contexts, different from the traditional ones. Concurrently, the teachers/trainers are now faced with the challenge of adapting their teaching styles in order to foster a new generation of students/trainees. The iGen / Generation Z, now entering university, as well as the current Generation Net / Generation Y / Millennials, have new learning expectations, styles and needs, different from the students in the past. In the theoretical part, this paper offers some examples of how the teaching strategies can be shaped in order to best adapt to the new generations and to the new technologies given the preferences of the former (experiential learning and interactivity). In the second part, the paper offers only some of the results obtained during a research (given the limited space) coming to confirm these theoretical aspects, a research which was performed within the GEX project - Optimizarea performantelor academice prin utilizarea mLearning-ului (Optimisation of academic performances by using mLearning), a research funded by the POLITEHNICA University in Bucharest. The target group consisted of 94 students/respondents studying in 8 faculties (the Automatics and Computer Faculty , the Entrepreneurship, Business Engineering and Management Faculty, the Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics Faculty, the Technological System Engineering and Management Faculty, the Biotechnical System Engineering Faculty, the Electrical Engineering Faculty, the Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Languages, and the Applied Science Faculty). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type of technology is becoming an education tool, the augmented reality. This tool is used in different category of education in order to facilitate learning. Together apps and other kind of tools like e-learning platforms can be used to promote learning through augmented reality. The purpose of our study is to investigate the possibilities of augmented reality to have a real contribution to the Romanian education system. The first part of the paper is highlighting the new trends in using augmented reality by other industries. The second part of the article is analyzing the perspective of improving learning process in the Romanian higher education system operating with augmented reality. The last part of the study is presenting the challenges in using this technology found through the realized quantitative study. The questionnaire presents the students attraction to those combined technologies. The sample gathered 164 students and it has been used as tool the online survey methods. A real interest of our research was to discover the augmented reality technology used but most of all how can be used in a learning activity. The research underlined the limits but also the advantages in using this kind of technologies and the specific interactions of this tool with e-learning platforms but also with other kind of tools. The reported results presented the enthusiasm and flexibility of the students in using such tools based especially on their experience of using apps and on their gaming experiences. Finally, we address different chances of research taking into consideration the limits but also the possibilities of the future for augmented reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical training scenarios in exercises and practices in the defense industry, focus on realism, where complex scenarios are simulated to achieve maximum impact on unit training. Thousands of hours are being spent to train units and provide real-life scenarios, to improve on survivability and efficiency of units, if and when the time comes, for proven organizational and practical efficiency. Using Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence to create real-life simulated environments would create a totally new learning platform, which provides a new learning experience and approach, for specialized situations in the defense industry. Many other solutions have tried to provide for interactive content, without achieving the much needed interaction between subjects participating in training courses, where complex environmental relations need to be analyzed. Artificial Intelligence algorithms may help identify patterns and may be trained to provide for specific input on human interaction. The Augmented Reality environment may provide for the much needed interaction and practices that are normally required for real-life situations. Combining both elements into a single eLearning platform, may provide for a totally new paradigm in the training of military and intelligence units, by reducing costs on an already expansive military budget, providing a safer training environment and ultimately improving the available methods of training for a special domain. The present work makes an analysis of available technology, software and hardware, to provide for such a scenario where Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality is united to create a new e-learning concept. A functional architecture will be presented, with the identification of the most probable already existing technologies that could be used to reach a proof-of-concept solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present a theoretical and practical analysis of new pedagogical approaches (Self-Directed Learning, Gamification and Augmented Reality) in working with users with special educational needs. These new pedagogical approaches are proposed in the NEWTON European project. NEWTON project, as a part of European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, is currently developing new pedagogical environments in order to improve the way STEM subjects are taught throughout European schools. NEWTON project include 14 European academic and industry partners. NEWTON emphasizes, among other things, the adaptation of modern methods and technologies to the needs of students with special educational needs, including children with hearing impairments. Using new approaches in education like Augmented Reality or Gamification has been a trending issue in the recent years. However, there is a limited body of research on these approaches for students with special educational needs. In order to analyze the modern pedagogical approaches proposed by NEWTON from the perspective of the activity with the children with hearing impairment, we followed, the following steps: o Description of the main features of the development of children with hearing impairment, because from these result the special requirements in the school activity. o Collecting and analyzing the opinions of teachers working with this category of children regarding the benefits and limitations of modern pedagogical approaches proposed in comparison to classical ones. This included 32 teachers who have experience of working with children with hearing impairment. There were meetings with teachers presenting modern pedagogical approaches and answers to questions. Later, each teacher was asked to fill out a questionnaire with open questions on the benefits and limitations of these methods for learning with children with hearing disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education through real life projects asks for augmenting the already established curriculum with items of the new IoT world, and the science of developing IoT enabled applications, addressing sets of different technologies working together. The FOG world consists of devices, sensors, data and the cloud. Unlike a desktop/laptop computer or tablet, IoT devices can access specific hardware like lights, sensors and motors. Therefore, a large plethora of real life projects can be implemented during practical lessons. Based on FOG approach of the new IoT based world, this paper describes architectures and methodologies to be applied both for massive and critical IoT enabled applications. The adequacy of programming languages, application programming interfaces' availability and new frameworks for IoT enabled applications for various boards including Raspberry PI, Dragon board, Intel Joule, and Minnow are considered. As results of this project, a syllabus and an e-book for the course "Developing IoT enabled applications" are obtained. Theoretical and practical case studies can be used in a blended learning approach to teach such a new subject. By taking this course or/and studying the e-book, the students will gain knowledge on developing IoT smart applications using eclipse IoT technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last couple of years, the technology of virtual reality had a massive breakthrough, extending its offerings into multiple fields such as education, arts, therapy, entertainment, architecture, sports, film and many others. In this paper, we will focus on the influence of virtual reality in therapy, with emphasis on treating acrophobia with the help of virtual reality. Using virtual reality to treat acrophobia has proved to be very effective, as numerous studies have shown. As medication and standard cognitive behavioural therapy manage to alleviate the symptoms, the most effective therapies require confronting the trauma itself. Hence, virtual reality therapy is becoming more popular, as it is adopted by hospitals and medical centres. Virtual Reality therapy is used to treat patients with different phobias. The patient is exposed to an artificially created environment, the phobia being triggered by both visual and auditory stimuli. During the session, the therapist can monitor the patient's reactions and adjust the exposure to the environment - exposure therapy, which implies gradually increasing or decreasing the intensity of the exposure, based on the current level of anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of augmented and virtual reality technologies offers students an opportunity to become more familiar with these technologies and their applications in business context. This paper shares results of the TalkTech project, in which first-year introductory technology students from a university in the United States and fourth-year multimedia students from a university in Romania study uses of augmented reality in a variety of industries, create original augmented reality artifacts, and demonstrate their results with international partners. Using Internet-based communication tools to collaborate, students investigate the possibilities that augmented reality enables. The assignment promotes creativity using technology as students develop original artifacts that demonstrate their understanding of augmented reality as applied to a variety of business contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of ICT in education through the integration of Web 2.0 applications and open online education resources leads to an increase in the motivation and involvement of students in their own learning process, promoting a collaborative-participative learning and facilitating the development of necessary 21st century skills (learning and innovation skills; information, media, and technology skills; life and career skills; adaptability; complex communication/social skills; non-routine problem solving; self-management/self-development; and systems thinking).The use of the aforementioned resources in science education through various devices (computers, smartphones, or tablets) determines teachers to continuously adapt their perspective upon the design and management of the teaching process and to acquire new professional and transversal skills, since an exemplary science education can offer a rich context to develop most of the necessary 21st century skills. From a pedagogical perspective, the use of new media is of outmost importance to support learning and to obtain educational benefits which can be a result of an enrichment/extension/completion of the learning experiences offered to students in the real world with those based on virtual reality. We refer here to a new visualization option offered to science education through ICT, namely augmented reality (AR). Nowadays AR applications are only occasionally used in science education, being mainly seen as a technology for entertainment and informal education. Nevertheless, this visualization technology has a great potential for formal education, developing life skills and facilitating new learning experiences. Regardless of the visualization technology used, its teaching value derives from the way teachers are able to direct learning experience through the proposed instructional design, starting from the desired learning outcomes. For science education, we refer here to the collaborative-participative experiences which are the result of applying teaching methods such as investigation, observation, peer coaching, jigsaw, etc. Starting from these general observations, we present in this study the various options in which AR can be used to create authentic learning experiences in Romanian science education. We also describe and analyze free apps developed for this purpose (Aurasma, ZooBurst, Wikitude). Finally, we study the attitude of future teachers towards using learning and visualization technologies in their future teaching, emphasizing their main fears but also what they consider to be the main advantages of integrating technology and in particular AR in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a development of a distance learning system using virtual reality and augmented techniques will be presented, having two research directions: use of augmented reality applications in the development of e-labs for students, master students and researchers, and learning systems and simulation of robotic systems respectively, based on movements in a virtual reality environment. Development of the e-lab application involves the realization of calibration of the sensors and the existence of a communication system that uses the Internet. The robot system controlled remotely via the Internet is a 5-axis Mitsubishi RV-M1 Movemaster and its task is to manipulate various objects placed on a checkered table. The scene is viewed by a CCD camera and the images are transmitted over the Internet to the computer of the human operator. The computer determines the position and orientation of each object and then the human operator places the order of handling to the robot - order which is transmitted via the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current rapid advancements in wearable devices hardware and software technologies offer both new opportunities for education, but can also come with challenges for the education providers. Current selling trends among the wearable gadgets indicate a rapid growth in user demand, especially among teenagers and students. The increasing availability of display technologies like OLED and Quantum Dot technologies is opening the doors for the development of new flexible devices, adapting normal surfaces for user interfaces and offering new possibilities of interactivity. The devices' miniaturization, along with the increase of processing power and video cameras performance, can be used as new tools in education, that can add dynamic virtual generated content to information from the real world and provide knowledge on-demand to mobile users. One efficient way to implement such a tool is by using Augmented Reality (AR) software with mobile devices, such as tablets, smartphones of phablets. In this paper, a series of tools are presented, that can be used by teachers and trainers to add 3D generated content by mapping it to objects from the real world, using software tools to process the visual information received from a video camera, analyse the visual content, dynamically add the 3D content depending on the parameters of the real world "markers" and to display the results on the mobile device's screen. The development workflow is also presented, describing the work process from creating a marker to publishing the result as a standalone application that can be installed on an device running Android operating system. The demo application implements these technologies to demonstrate the presented concepts and to provide an example of enhancing a course material in wind energy field by implementing AR to increase the interactivity with the students, increase the self-learning experience and stimulate the students' curiosity and understanding of the technical studied aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented Reality (AR) is adopted in educational projects to mediate an enhanced visual and cognitive perception. Recently it is used also for creation of AR games. Educational games are modern learning and training strategies for engaging learners and stimulate an active learning through a gamelike scenario. The paper analyzes how game concepts and design principles can be applied or adapted to AR, and how AR technology affordances can be leveraged in order to implement a new class of educational and simulation games. The authors also present a concept of an AR simulation game for Android devices for teaching basic 3D graphics principles and stimulating 3D modellong skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to the way heritage assets are regarded in other developed nations, the Romanian ones are very often poorly managed, left unknown to the very own Romanian people, they are neglected and even damaged. Promoting and taking advantage of the country national heritage assets - be them tangible or intangible, involves first of all a raised awareness; it implies knowing about them and understanding their true meaning. Learning is the key to acquiring knowledge and people are prone to retaining information important to them or information that has a strong sensorial, emotional, cognitive impact upon them. As nowadays learning processes are more and more influenced by the powerful online environment and the complex technology, the sensitive area of heritage may take great benefits from it. National heritage assets bear within themselves historical and cultural information. They are the key to building a strong and proud national identity and a valuable social cohesion, to contributing to a sustainable economical development. As the way of retaining information and learning is changing, augmented reality gives the learner the live experience of the past and makes him aware of the heritage importance and of its true significance in the most appropriate way. The augmented reality technology makes the information more powerful by enhancing its substance with visual, audio and sensorial attributes, building thus a real live experience. The current paper aims to bring in discussion the possibilities of transmitting the knowledge about heritage assets through specific applications of augmented reality, making a particular reference to the educational games that transform learning into an entertaining activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gained results from an experiment with teachers from primary school related to the influence of Augmented Reality (AR) technology on affective states and learning are presented. Positive and negative emotions are important part in teachers' preparation of pedagogical content, curriculum development and relationship creation with children. According to the teacher's pedagogical strategy and presented content different emotions could be induced to pupils. The findings point that AR technology based learning objects play an important role to settle emotions and feelings like concerned, attentive, enthusiastic, excited, activated, with new idea, joyful. Successful learning practices are well described showing the potential of AR to promote creativity, curiosity and discovering approach at gathering new knowledge or applying existing facts. A wide range of research publications demonstrate that the appropriate affective learner's states can lead to the effective learning. The importance of positive emotions on stimulation of creative thinking, efficacy in decision making and in support of problem solving is explored too. The relationship among AR technology usage, resulting emotions and learning achievements are not explored and it is a challenge producing several research questions like: How does AR technology influence on the learners affective states?, How the learners emotions evolve during an AR session?, How the correlation among AR technology and emotions reflect on the learning experience? The research methodology includes three main procedures: (1) literature review about the important emotions for a learning process, (2) creation of exploratory tools for emotions gathering during an AR session, (3) experiment organization and result analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a markerless AR book for teaching in enjoyable way mechanisms in mechanical engineering courses. The main idea is to provide to the student real time information on mechanism structure and kinematics by mixing images from the real world with 3D virtual objects. Although the user may watch a physical experiment by means of a webcam, on the computer screen he will see real book pages and, superimposed, the relevant graphical annotations and 3D mechanism simulation. The software, hardware and the methodology, as well as the results are described in detail. Using this teaching concept, a variety of computational mechanism models can be studied, which reduces the need for classical experiments that involve expensive installations. The advantage of this system method is the usage of inexpensive equipment for intuitive learning the simulation of mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]