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American Investor, the former official simulation of the American Stock Exchange, was designed to teach market participants, i.e. investors but also students the basics of fundamental and technical analysis of stocks and the use of options in their investment strategy. It allowed participants to refine their analytical and investment skills in a no- risk environment. To test the knowledge and investment skills of students in transitional countries, graduate students of finance in Croatia and Slovenia tested their investment strategies on the American stock exchange with this simulation during their investment courses in the time period 1995-2005. It was found out that as time proceeded the results of the students were better because parallel with the evolution of the financial markets in their home countries special finance and investment courses were taught at their faculties what enabled them to be better prepared for investments in the secondary stock markets and options markets.

Fundamental analysis, a part of investment analysis, is long-term oriented and primarily focused on analyzing factors such as economic influences, industry factors, and especially company information such as product demand, earnings, dividends and management, in order to determine an intrinsic value for the company's stocks. Based on this analysis, security analysts, investors and also students can make prudent investment decisions by comparing this value with the current market price of the stock. To analyze the pros and cons of fundamental analysis in this article an educational computer program called SP will be presented, which calculates on the basis of companies balance sheet and income statement data provided by Standard and Poor's several important ratios. Among these ratios, are up and down beta factor, price-earnings ratio, dividend yield, debt-equity ratio etc. Taking into account a lot of data from the Standard and Poor's database the program enables users to calculate new and even different ratios which do not exist in the original database and are important for investment decisions. The goal of such an approach for students is to simulate different investment strategies based on fundamental analysis, by picking specific stocks which meet their investment criteria, tracking their performance for a predefined investment period and analyzing the results. Doing so they are better prepared for "real life" investments in the mature stock markets and especially in the more volatile emerging stock markets.

The development of information and communication technology (ICT) has influenced changes in various fields of science, economy and education as well as in the society in general. The objective of this paper is to put forward the importance of implementation of ICT in teaching at Department of Civil Engineering of Polytechnic of Zagreb and specialist civil engineering studies at the same school. The paper presents results of research involving students of the first year of expert and specialist study of civil engineering at Polytechnic of Zagreb on importance of implementation of ICT in teaching as a considerable and a basic precondition for overcoming current problems in future practical business operation.

Razvoj informacijsko komunikacijske tehnologije (IKT-a) i njezina primjena u nastavnom procesu iz temelja mijenjaju bit današnjeg procesa obrazovanja. Informatičke učionice i računala s različitim multimedijskim sadržajima kao i internetska mreža danas su stvarnost naših škola. U učionicama se sve više koristi odgovarajuća standardna informatička oprema (računala ili tableti s fiksnim LCD projektorom, interaktivne ploče i sl.). Uz takav standard i opremu u školama neophodni su sustavno pripremljeni, objedinjeni i primjereni multimedijski interaktivni sadržaji. Već danas je na tržištu dostupno mnoštvo elektroničkih nastavnih sadržaja (koji uglavnom prate školski udžbenik) ili elektroničkih materijala dostupnih putem Interneta. Međutim, još uvijek je mali broj sustavnog i metodički primjerenog materijala za samostalni rad i interaktivnu vježbu kao i za provjeru znanja učenika iz svih predmeta, a posebice iz predmeta fizike u osnovnoj školi. Cilj ovog rada je prikazati moguće pristupe nastavi fizike uz pomoć multimedijskih interaktivnih sadržaja.

Throughout history, the educational process used different educational technologies which did not significantly alter the manner of learning in the classroom. By implementing e-learning technology to the educational process, new and completely different innovative learning scenarios are made possible, including more active student involvement outside the traditional classroom. The quality of the realization of the educational objective in any learning environment depends primarily on the teacher who creates the educational process, mentors and acts as a moderator in the communication within the educational process, but also relies on the student who acquires the educational content. The traditional classroom learning and e-learning environment enable different manners of adopting educational content, and this paper reveals their key characteristics with the purpose of better use of e-learning technology in the educational process.

In times of poor economic activity, low investment, high investment risks and increasing competition, companies are turning to the remaining staff trying to achieve synergy as competitive advantage. Large corporate systems are reducing staff, shifting from rigid hierarchical and information channels to more flexible, creating new value with the knowledge of individuals in the middle. Information systems of the companies have been created primarily for disseminating information under the principle of top-down, with very little possibilty of personnel knowledge input into central database. Looking from information and communication point of view, software of the companies have not evolved according to the era in which we live - the era of social networks. The analysis of the current systems and comparing them with opportunities of public social networks, we point to the many possibilities offered by different components and types of social networking. Creating new information and communication channels through a corporate portal, we are opening up new challenges in business and organizational interaction

Starting with the academic year 2010/2011, the prerequisite for the enrollment in a study program is sitting for and passing the state graduation exam. This paper presents the analysis of enrollment conducted for the first year in Undergraduate professional course at Polytechnic of Zagreb. The analysis of success for the first time enrolled in Undergraduate course in civil engineering was carried out for the course called Mathematics 1 and results were compared with corresponding result that were obtained for the same course by students enrolled in this program in previous academic year, but according to the other criteria. Also, we have processed the results of questionnaire in semesters of relevance of the state graduation exam being a basic precondition for the selected studies registration, conducted on newly enrolled students in Undergraduate course in civil engineering.

Universities play a very important role in regional deveiopment as they contribute to regional economies and regional deveiopment. It is a generally accepted fact around the \vorlcl that human capital is a major tool for achieving competitive advantages in the global market. An efflcient society, which builds its competitive advantages on knowledge, must have a flexible labour market, adequate levels of employee security and protection, but also a system that continuously fosters and revvards investment into knowledge. People, their needs, motivation and satisfaction have therefore corne into the focus of human resource management. An autonomous universitv, vvhich is willing to adapt to changes and fulfil the requirements of the community, is a driving force behind overall deveiopment.

The Internet and online learning have proved to be extremely popular, not only among the young. However, focusing on these recent advantages of the modern media requires some evaluation and warning. Hoping to master a foreign language using your PC to solve exercises given on thousands different web sites is an illusion created by marketing and advertising. The truth is that one's language competences will be improved, but the evident problem is a lack of explanations and exercises which would help Croatian ESL (English as a Second Language) students. The differences between the two languages are enormous, Latin script being their only common feature. In spite of the disadvantages mentioned above, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) can provide numerous benefits. This paper deals with these benefits, motivation and a positive effect on students' approach to language learning and provides some hints regarding reservations about CALL. It also points out why learners' autonomy is an important issue, deals with massive resource of authentic language, and gives reasons why such learners are more likely to continue learning once their classical course/school attendance has been completed.

Although the Internet is the fastest way for acquiring information, people with special needs are faced with limited possibilities when it comes to using the Internet and IT technologies. Research in the Republic of Macedonia showed that only a small number of Internet resources exist which provide information about and for people with special needs. Therefore, a need exists for developing a web portal for people with special needs. In this paper the need for such a portal is researched and an outline of the services that it should offer is presented. The portal should represent an online meeting place for people with special needs, parents and relatives, special educators, scientists and experts in the field. It should incorporate several features, including a forum where people with special needs can exchange experiences and problems they’ve faced and are still facing. The web portal should also offer online consulting services by experts. The research showed that there is a significant number of highly educated special educators in Macedonia, but their unemployment rate is also high. In relation to this, the web portal should provide employment opportunities, i.e. recommend special educators to people who have a need for special educator services.

In addition to the classic method of teaching and practicing programming in university classrooms that has been in use for years, in parallel with the appearance of new technologies, new teaching methods have emerged which could greatly improve the quality of teaching. The paper researches the idea of combined teaching, using new collaborative technologies for distant teaching university level programming, such as Learning Management Systems, web conferencing systems, etc. A preliminary research has been conducted at the University of Rijeka in which 94 students who attended at least one programming course expressed their experience and opinions regarding e-learning and various e-learning systems. A blended learning model is proposed which will later be implemented in pilot programming courses at the University.

Mobile Game Based Learning (mGBL) was a 3-year initiative, supported by the European Commission's Information Society Technologies (IST) programme within the Sixth Framework. The project, which began in October 2005, was led by evolaris Privatstiftung, a research lab based in the city of Graz, Austria. Nine other organisations contributed to this project, from Austria, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and the UK. Most parts of the software modules (project platform and one game ) are available as FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) with the EUPL 1.0 license through sourceforge.net portal.

Trends in higher education show a wide usage of information and communication technology (ICT) in everyday education process. The paper points out a wide spectrum of possibilities provided by e-learning and LMS systems whose task is to facilitate the information flow from teaching staff to students and vice versa. In Croatia this is still a rather novel approach to learning, but it has been gaining pace. The possibilities offered by introducing e-learning system by far outnumber the obstacles. Nevertheless, the spread of the e-learning model has not reached the level encountered at similar foreign universities. In an attempt to establish the reasons for this, detailed surveys have been conducted at Faculties of Economics in the Republic of Croatia. These institutions are similar in terms of study programs, but different in size and geographical location. By comparing responses from different institutions it was attempted to find similarities and common ground, and to propose possible solutions.

Prijenosna računala su nedavno postala široko dostupna i tehnički vrlo dotjerana, što ih čini idealnim izborom među osobnim računalima. Potaknuto rezultatima e-učenja i planovima za daljnje unapređenje nastave na Tehničkom veleučilištu u Zagrebu, u radu se općenito razmatraju mogućnosti informatizacije nastave koje bi se otvorile kada bi se osiguralo da svi sudionici nastave raspolažu umreženim prijenosnim računalima. Radi se o primjeni postojećih tehnologija, koje se inače rabe pri učenju na daljinu, na klasičnu nastavu u učionicama. Paradoksalno je, naime, da učenje na daljinu u praksi može omogućiti intenzivniju i kvalitetniju interakciju između nastavnika i studenta, od one koja se postiže u klasičnim učionicama. Računalno podržanu nastavu karakterizira simultana i dvosmjerna komunikacija između nastavnika i studenata u učionici, te potpuna odsutnost potrebe za papirom kao medijem. Jedna od posljedica globalizacije mogla bi biti i naglo širenje jakih edukacijskih ustanova, ponajprije poznatih svjetskih sveučilišta, pomoću učenja na daljinu. Za mnoge lokalne visokoškolske ustanove moglo bi tada nestati interesa, ukoliko ne pronađu pravi odgovor. Jedan od načina opstanka u toj utrci jest oslanjanje na atraktivniju, računalno podržanu nastavu kakva je opisana u ovom radu.

Model of “ new school” emphasizes the acquisition of key competencies, which are necessary for successful participation in the knowledge-based society and economy based on modern (global market) production, as the educational outcomes. It prepares students for life, stimulates their curiosity, develops their creativity and prepares them for the competitive labour market. The work contains a review of characteristics of the “ new school and teachers for the “ new school” , as well as the importance of the contemporary media in the process of communication and education.

The aim of this paper is to elaborate and present the advantages of using Web Content Management Systems (primarily Joomla!) in e-commerce courses at universities. E-commerce is taught to many non-IT students who possess various previous knowledge in IT, which can often cause problems. Content Management Systems can circumvent those problems by avoiding the need for teaching HTML, PHP, SQL etc, and enabling non-IT students to focus on content management which is crucial for e-commerce. Characteristics of Web Content Management Systems are explained, followed by brief explanation of Joomla!. Examples are presented, along with experiences from the university.

BMS is a computer program for bond market simulation. With this computer program students can simulate the buying and selling of bonds in three different markets or scenarios, the bond market in the USA, Germany and Slovenia. By analyzing the results they can decide if passive, semi-active or active investment strategies are more appropriate for bond investments in mature or emerging financial markets. This computer software was carefully programmed in the mid nineties using CLIPPER v. 5.00 and several other utility programs so it is running on PCs with Operation Systems from MS DOS to Windows Vista

This paper deals with the concept of ICT culture in the school context in order to regard the problem of ICT integration in the educational system more completely. Analysing opinions and experiences of different authors, as well as through conducted research, the aim is to assess if teachers’ ICT culture influences the change of the standard pedagogical practice. Research results point to a connection between teachers’ ICT culture and frequency of use of ICT in teaching and the way in which they conduct classes when applying ICT.

The European Union in building Europe as a society of knowledge, that is a learning society, among its priorities, besides the development of the democratic values, gives an important place to education. Stressing its quality as one of important guidelines of the learning society, it seeks its identity in the European cultural heritage and the stimulation of research, science and creativity. On the way to enter the European educational space, the Croatian higher educational system attempts to come to terms with the conclusions of the Bologna Declaration. Changes that the information era brings reflect themselves on the European educational space. The new century in the countries of the European Union pointing the importance of : knowledge of high quality, lifelong learning of the shaping of the future and common dimensions of the knowledge base.

In the process of EU accession the Republic of Croatia is endeavouring to meet the new requirements for improving the education system. This presents an opportunity to make certain changes in the education system, by embracing and conducting a process of strategic thinking aimed at enhancing all the segments in the Croatian education system. The ultimate goal is to help create a more efficient and more competitive economy. The majority of human resources should be redirected to knowledge-based jobs, whereby economic growth through innovation might be achieved. Current and future workforce should be trained to change jobs with ease, to manage their work environment, and to participate in life-long learning. Usage of ICT in education is a major strategic feature of quality education, development, and employment possibilities in a competitive market economy. All education systems face the challenges and requirements of the information society, and use ICT to make knowledge, information, and education more accessible, as well as to provide life-long learning and education. Primary education is the basis of the entire education system. Its characteristics will reflect on the efficiency of life-long learning, through which members of a community gain competence to live in a knowledge society and function in a knowledge-based economy. The paper aims to investigate the education system efficiency through the usage of ICT, and is based on empirical research.