Vol.42, No 1 (2009)

Vanda Rebolj

Kettejeva 4, 1241 Kamnik, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Education systems confront new requirements to become more efficient and contribute more to the economic success of society. At the same time there are new challenges for the education systems to perform their tasks using advanced technology. In capacity, information technology considerably surpasses the current learning technology. Supported by Internet it creates an electronic parallel to the standard school and learning. Unfortunately there is only sporadic evidence that supported by information technology, learning and education system as a whole can be considerably improved. In spite of that, we believe there is no way back and e-education is not just a temporary whim. Even though we do not know exactly who should perform what and to which scope. The passiveness of pedagogues, the lack of empirical research and the occurring expansion of the market for e-education products without their quality assessment is not of advantage to this progress. The spread of e-education production without considering the professional opinion of pedagogues, who beside their practical work must also engage in developing their own pedagogical theory, might not benefit the existing education achievements. On the other hand, didactics can by analogy be applied also in the web environment, consequently creating the related assessment mechanisms of the electronic education elements.

Andreja Rojko

Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko, Univerza v Mariboru, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor

Matjaž Debevc

Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko, Univerza v Mariboru, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor

Darko Hercog

Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko, Univerza v Mariboru, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Modern educational methods bring many new challenges from the pedagogical, as well as from the technical aspect. One of the more significant is the integration of information and communication technology into the educational process. These is particularly noticeable in the engineering education where the requests of the industry for a faster and more efficient acquisition of knowledge and practical skills lead to a constant search for new solutions in the learning process which would attract and motivate students, as well as be user friendly. This is especially difficult to be reached with the practical education which is usually composed of laboratory exercises that are bound to a specific time and place. One of the possible solutions are the remote laboratories which offer the possibility of the implementation of real remote laboratory experiments in the educational institutions’ laboratories and, therefore, enhance the students’ knowledge and capability for dealing with some technical problems without the need for their physical presence in the laboratory. In the article, the example of a successful implementation of the remote laboratory in the field of engineering, developed and operating in the Moodle environment, is presented. The laboratory does not only represent the framework for the experiment implementation, but it also offers courses with complete documentation, therefore courses can be performed on distance. As an example, the case of the most widely used course from remote laboratory is presented, i.e., the “Control of nonlinear mechanism” course. Special attention is given to the description of the booking process for remote experiments, the execution of remote experiments and the applied user interface. The evaluation of the interface usability from the point of view of end users was performed via the acknowledged SUMI method. Additionally, another questionnaire was prepared in order to investigate the students’ opinion about working in the remote laboratory. The results have shown that the presented remote laboratory is user friendly and accepted by both teachers and students as a suitable and interesting supplement to the conventional laboratory exercises.

Jasminka Zloković

Faculty of Philosophy, Rijeka, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Metod Černetič

University of Maribor, Faculty for Organizational Sciences, Slovenia

Olga Dečman Dobrnjič

The National Education Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Possible responses to the extremely complex and delicate question of the influence that «virtual reality» exercises on the development of a child as a unique personality, on the child’s psycho-social development and on the education of a child generally may be provided by serious research of a cohort sequential design, either in research programmes in the field of educational sciences or of other social disciplines. The present paper confronts some dilemmas of the modern world. Particularly those between the «traditional» educational values, «obsolete» families and schools and «progressive» education supplied (imposed) by virtual reality that promotes the social standardization of behaviour and the perception of values and of the world around us. The aggressiveness of the mass media in presenting «virtual reality» as « progressive» and without an «alternative» often results in a virtual life for a child, with virtual friends, education and even virtual families. In the time of developing technology, an important question arises: how to deal with such a situation. Do we direct young people to carefully select from what modern virtual reality has to offer and how do we do that?

Alenka Stanič Lang

University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia

Tanja Urbančič

University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia; Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract

Background/Purpose: In this paper we discuss the trends in present society that will have the most important influence in shaping future jobs, with an emphasis on issues related to sustainable development and an information society. We point out that based on the requirements of educated end-users, companies will have to follow the principles of sustainable development and social responsibility. In future, due to technical development, natural resources, environmental issues and demographical trends in the developed western world, the most attractive jobs will be in high technology, health and medical care, as well as the pleas­ure and free time industry. The most important sectors will be informatics and telecommunication, logistics, safety, healthcare and life-long education.

Peter Purg

Parmska cesta 17, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenija

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The article presents and questions the issue of student workload and learning motivation, especially in the context of recent so called Bologna curriculum renewals. Therein it focusses especially on the web-supported, i. e. blended form of learning. Through a comparison of three simultaneous blended deliveries of the course „Multimedia” at three different higher vocational schools in Slovenia, and with description of selected good-practice examples, recommendations are given for a future-oriented, active use of new ICT in education – from curriculum-development thorugh blended forms of assessment and quality assurance, to didactical methods, e. g. use of forums, wikis, online materials and resources (also multimedia), and other forms of e-learning. From the perspective of decreasing the workload for both teacher and student as well as simultaneously increasing the learning effectiveness and motivation, the article originally attempts at sketching an interactive model for decreasing workload through blended learning.

Danica Vuković

Zavod RS za zaposlovanje, Rožna dolina, Cesta IX/ 6,1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija

Eva Jereb

Fakulteta za organizacijske vede, Univerza v Mariboru, Kidričeva 55a, 4000 Kranj,

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The abstract highlights adult lifelong learning, which now finally attained the appropriate place in the educational system, thanks to Lisbon 2000 strategy. In the research on adult education we wanted to acquire information on employee needs, obstacles and motivation that accompany them while enrolling in training. It has been ascertained that employees do not comprehend formal education due to financial reasons, their workload and family matters. On the other hand they do attend shorter educational programs of informal education and further training. These methods of learning are often financed and supported by employers and are carried out during their working hours. In majority of cases employees usually have needs for professional training according to their field of expertise, foreign languages and current IT. By forming such an educational model, we strive to enable employees to gain basic skills. These have been recognised as key points in developing economy by Lisbon strategy and model’s fundamental grounds stand on knowledge

Rado Wechtersbach

Zavod RS za šolstvo, Poljanska 28, 1000 Ljubljana,

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The renovation of the grammar school curriculum has also introduced the competences into the pre-university level of the common educational system. The article comprises the historical background of the competences and their introduction into the educational system in the USA and Europe. Since the definition of the competences has still not been equally presented in Slovenian professional sphere, the following operative definition provides a basis, comprehended within the renovation of the subject Informatics in the grammar school curriculum and consequently its building and evaluation

Lijana Martinc

Šolski center Velenje – Poklicna in tehniška šola za storitvene dejavnosti, Trg mladosti 3, 3320 Velenje, Slovenija,

Mojca Bernik

Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede, Slovenija

Vladislav Rajkovič

Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za organizacijske vede, Slovenija

Abstract

Background/Purpose: The article presents a model that can be used as a tool for teacher’s self-evaluation. On the basis of this model the teachers will be able to self-evaluate, define and improve the critical areas of their teaching, which will result in the improved overall quality of the teaching process. Two exemplary models have been created. In the first one the teachers and the students represented a variant. In the second model the variant included individual teachers too. The two models serve just as examples for teachers’ self-evaluation because the model can be adjusted according to the individual requirements of the teacher. The questions can be selected by the teacher and a new model for self-evaluation, adjusted to the particular set of questions and their analysis can be created. The analysis of the questionnaires served as a basis for the evaluation of the structured criteria, determination of the values, functional benefits and description of the variants and their analysis. The software used in the analyses was Dexi and Merlin.

Denis Čaleta

Genealštab Slovenske vojske, Vojkova 55, 1000 Ljubljana, Republika Slovenija

Abstract

Background/Purpose: New asymmetric threats influence on development of new education approaches in to framework of process countering terrorism. Finding that human and his ability for planning and adapting to changes in environment is key factor of success organization. Appropriate educated and trained human is the most important source of efficient process of countering terrorism. Radical changes in to world security environment and progress in to development of informational and communicational technology with enlargement of knowledge is together with enforcement criterion of global market one of the most important factors which shaping modern society, society of knowledge and new modern technological. National security subjects have to realize that education theirs members is one of the most important factors for success of organization. It is obviously that in to this environment doesn’t exist united consensus about how educate future counter terrorism experts, but already exist some alternative ideas and ways to do it. Chances for expressing critical thinking on area of research phenomenon of terrorism is one of the basic condition for efficient further development of this research area. Knowledge and abilities of members of this organization are become one of the critical factors for their efficiency in to process of countering terrorism. For these reasons is very important that organizations are aware of facts that it is important to constantly invest in to improvement of knowledge and abilities of their members. Application of new models educations among which we can also put distance learning, could be efficient way for achievements of planning goals.