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This paper presents data from two international projects focused on the interaction between changemaking and digital making in university students. The data is drawn from the contributions of 63 university students located in the United States, Romania, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and England. Using a design thinking methodology and a thematic analysis of student responses, the aim was to understand how the creative use of immersive technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality, might create an environment for changemaking practices in an international context. Findings suggest that students demonstrated not only enhanced digital skills and student engagement but increased cultural competence and global mindfulness. International digital collaboration can create conditions for students to develop changemaker attributes and identify as changemakers within the spheres of entrepreneurship and education, preparing them to be a force for change in the world.

Started in 2008, the new Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) paradigm has brought challenges and innovation at all levels of education, aiming to respond to the most pressing learning needs, generated by the new development policies and the rapid evolution of technology. This paper reports on a project proposed by a group of universities and organizations specialized in training, research and consultancy, with a view to develop and implement an innovative learning system in entrepreneurship. The project is built on a package of MOOCs targeting the learning needs of young entrepreneurs in the context of "Smart cities" policies. The article presents the project concepts, and the development and implementation steps, from MOOCs design, pilot phase, consultancy activities, impact study to proposals for national policies and accreditation. This work could be a starting point for developing new programmes and customized training courses on specific learning needs to support the "Smart cities" interventions.

This paper describes the implementation and results of a cross-cultural pairing between college students in the United States and Romania who worked together over the period of one month to create a multimedia presentation that shared their learning about topics of multimedia and culture. Students could use any web-based collaboration tools of their choice, including email, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing to complete the project, and documented their results on a collaborative wiki. The project gave students an opportunity to use Web based collaboration tools to create tangible work products with international partners. This paper presents an analysis of the technologies they used and how they used them to complete the project, and examines their learning based a survey and their own qualitative remarks. Results show that students gained proficiency at selecting and using appropriate web based collaboration tools. They also overcame issues related to language, time zones and technology.

Augmented and virtual reality applications bring new insights to real world objects and scenarios. This paper shares research results of the TalkTech project, an ongoing study investigating the impact of learning about new technologies as members of global communities. This study shares results of a collaborative learning project about augmented and virtual reality and their applications in a variety of businesses and industries. In the TalkTech project, students from universities in the United States and Romania collaboratively work together to research the use of augmented and virtual reality in an assigned industry, create original augmented reality artifacts, and communicate and share their findings with their international partners. The authors evaluate the TalkTech project through the lens of the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) framework as a pedagogy to enhance student learning about augmented reality and improve students' digital skills. The paper also discusses the SAMR framework as implemented in the TalkTech project and its application to creating learning projects to transform Information Systems education.

Purpose: Short videos, also known as micro-videos, have emerged as a platform for sharing ideas, experiences and life events via online social networks. This paper aims to share preliminary results of a study, involving students from two universities who created six-second videos using the Vine mobile app to explain or illustrate technological concepts. Design/methodology/approach: Students were assigned the task of creating a Vine video to demonstrate their understanding of an assigned technological concept. A survey, performed after creating their micro-videos, asked students about the technology tools they use that allow them to be creative, their current personal digital literacy skills and the extent to which they are able to express a complex concept in a simple way. The study categorizes the students' micro-videos to determine which formats might be most effective in demonstrating technology learning. Findings: An analysis of their videos shows that the six-second constraint often inspires creativity and critical thinking, as students need to carefully consider the message they wish to convey, and how they can do so effectively in a compelling micro-video. The creation of such videos provides an effective way to demonstrate student learning and digital literacy skills. Research limitations/implications: The study presents preliminary results gathered during one semester, with 68 videos created by 75 students. Practical implications: Micro-video platforms are popular among today's students, whose increased use of social media, dependence on mobile devices and desire for constant connectivity enable new outlets for creativity and communication. This study examines the introduction of a micro-video platform, which many students already use in their personal lives, in an educational context to develop their technology and digital literacy skills. Social implications: Students learn to use an emerging social media platform as a vehicle to inspire creativity and learning. Originality/value: This study explores and shares preliminary results related to the use of micro-videos for demonstrating technology learning and developing digital literacy skills in the information technology classroom.

The evolution of the energy market in Europe was influenced by the unprecedented development of the economy in 2007 and by the evolution of oil prices. From the analyses carried out in the energy field, we found that although American economy slowed down after September 11, 2001, the war in Iraq and then the other local conflicts in the Middle East forced an increase in oil consumption which led to an increase in the barrel price, which reached a level USD 145/barrel with the outbreak of the financial crisis. Against the background of the banking crisis and the sovereign debt crisis, the growth rate of the world economy has slowed down and the oil price has stabilized today at a level of 45-55 USD/barrel. Present in Romania through Petrom, OMV Austria is a multinational company whose main activity are exploration, production and marketing of oil and gas, petroleum refining and electricity generation. In this paper, we will assess the financial situation of the company on the European energy market into three periods: before, during and post-financial crisis, taking into account assets, liabilities, equity, performance indicators and market indicators.

The development in the energy market has shown that a large number of companies in this area are often confronted with the issue of investment, the issue of the purchase price of energy raw materials (oil, coal and gas), with problems related to the distribution of electricity to consumers, but especially with the problem related to the collection of energy bills. The global financial crisis has also affected the energy sector and the banking sector and, with the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis, the crisis has also affected the budget sector. Against the background of the exit of the economy from the crisis, the energy industry has revived, although the problems related to the operational activity and the investment activity remained almost unchanged. The main concern of big companies in the energy industry is to permanently secure electricity consumers on the backdrop of companies’ stability and equilibrium. That is why our analysis will focus on comparing the results of the financial equilibrium indicators between two major energy companies in Europe, namely Transelectrica SA and Enel SpA during the pre-crisis, crisis and post crisis periods. As component of the entity analysis, the financial position is a constant concern of managers and aimes to ensure the necessary funds for the operational activity. In the industry in general and in energy industry in particular, the cycle of recovery is slowed down by the specific activity of these companies. That is why in the paper we analyze the equilibrium of two energy companies from Romania and Italy.

In this paper, we conducted a research on the equilibrium of cash operating cycle phases, between two moments: cash inflow and cash outflow. The research methodology is based on system financial ratios of 20 companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange in the energy industry. In this research paper it’s demonstrate how the cash conversion cash ratios system conducts to the short term company’s equilibrium.

Ratios represent useful analysis instruments that synthetize a large volume of data in an easier to understand, interpret and compare form. At the same time, they show certain limits that have to be analyzed for each case. When comparing ratios from different periods, one has to take into account the circumstances in which the company performs its activity, as well as the effect of certain changes in the financial reporting, such as : change in the economic circumstances, the productive process, the different production lines or the geographical target markets.

In this paper the authors analyze the financial structure on two levels, namely time for charging and funding sources. For each tier financial structure is analyzed with a correlated indicators including overall indebtedness and financial autonomy.

In the paper the authors present a model aggregate rating based on credit-scoring models, banking models and their rating model. Multi-criteria approach and an aggregate model better capture business risk of the company.

Public space art, usually placed outside and accessible to all, is a proper target for the exploitation of transformative and immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. In the recent years, artists and technology developers have collaborated to make physical art more expressivein the digital world, taking advantage of the democratisation of mixed reality devices and software.In this paper, we report on such development of the ArtTM application, an Android app for the publicspace art in Timisoara, Romania. We show the current state of the application and the innovative features that are currently in development. We present the envisioned roadmap to an augmented and virtual reality-enhanced experience and some initial thoughts on the actual implementation of them.

Virtual reality technologies have been demonstrated to produce encouraging results in the educational process. However, adoption of virtual reality-based instruction among educators has yet to see significant numbers. One of the reasons is the technical difficulty in authoring custom-made VR experiences for students. In this paper, we propose criteria for choosing VR authoring tools that are appropriate for usage in education and apply them to such current platforms. We also present a case study of learning collaboration project that revolved around the usage of VR authoring tools. We conclude with some recommendations regarding additional features that would enhance the exploitation of current VR authoring tools in education.

Recent years have seen a new generation of 'digital students' emerging in the developed world. Digital students are young adults who have grown up with digital technologies integrated as an everyday feature of their lives. Digital students use technology differently from previous generations of students, fluidly and often simultaneously using instant messengers, mobile phones, the Web, MP3 players, online games and more. A study performed in a UK university was designed to analyse the use of new technologies, especially of social software, by digital students. The methods used are based on measures of desirability. The study is part of a research project which is investigating how the development of the eLearning spaces might be informed by digital students' attitudes. It was the first step taken towards the development and evaluation of a new learning environment for digital students.