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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]

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]

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]

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]