eLearning in Romania: the State of the Art
Olimpius Istrate
Associate researcher, Institute for Education Sciences
Summary
Driven by socio-economical dynamics and supported by several national programmes aiming
to increase the access to ICT equipments and to quality eContent, Romanian education
institutions began to include 15 years ago new technologies in their development agenda.
Several initiatives are trying to keep up with the European and global eLearning trends,
principles and actions, focusing on the acquisition of IT equipment and their administrative
usage and shifting towards an appropriate education software integration and human
resource training.
Still being less favoured in this field than what education innovators expect (due to the
obsolete national legislative provision), schools, higher education institutions and training
companies are slowly adapting their curriculum to allow the creation of new technology-
enhanced learning settings in various areas. The theory and practice of eLearning are
continuously improving, in the aim of levering the quality of Romania´s education and training
system.
The present paper reviews the relevant documents and experiences concerning the
implementation of ICT in education in Romania, taking into consideration documents
provided by the Ministry of Education and Research, SIVECO Romania, the World Bank, the
Ministry for Information Technology, eLearning Romania and other significant companies,
universities and NGOs involved in the eLearning process, alongside with relevant regional
and local reports.
Nowadays, most of the Romanian efforts in the area of elearning are directed towards the
educational use of ICT. A coherent strategic document dealing specifically with technology-
enhanced education is under development and its policy recommendations could represent
the accent needed for a responsible usage of computers and Internet for education purposes,
on a large scale. But the sustainable results could only be achieved through a more pro-
active attitude of education policy makers, of the education practitioners and of the entire
society, because such a shift goes far beyond a simple governmental decision and the
education renewing is not the responsibility of a single institution.
Keywords
ICT in Romanian education system, elearning, computer-assisted instruction, Romanian
education system, education policies
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1 Introduction
The potential of ICT for economic development and societal prosperity is emphasised
throughout a series of European and national mid and long-term strategy-planning
documents. Information Society is stated as a key element of the overall framework put in
place to support economic growth. Knowledge-based economy and society is a goal for all
the states, pushing forward significant efforts and important resources, involving -voluntarily
or not- all economic and social structures at a trans-national, country or local level.
The need to surpass the digital divide is addressed by developing countries through
measures aimed at reducing functional blockages, stimulating research and innovations,
developing the ICT sector and supporting regional economic development, but mostly
training human resources.
Adapting towards a knowledge economy is a challenge involving shifts, re-shaping the labour
market (organization and quality of work, capacity building, institutional development, more
competitiveness, new professions, people’s ability to learn, etc.) and the education system.
First of all, knowledge society must be considered a learning society, where people have life-
long learning competencies and become acquainted with skills to manipulate, control and
add value to information. Learner’s access to equipment and quality eContent is therefore
stressed as important in building tomorrow’s Romanian “knowledge-society citizens”.
2 Introducing ICT in education
In 1998, the framework for compulsory education was designed and approved and a new
curriculum was implemented starting with the 1998-1999 academic year. This was an
opportunity to put emphasis on sustainable knowledge, as well as on acquainting students
with new electronic means of manipulating the information.
The improvement of school infrastructure and the connection of educational institutions to
Internet have been the goals of two major-impact programmes: SEI (Sistemul Educational
Informatizat – Education IT-based System) and RoEduNet (extending the Romanian
educational information network). Beside these programmes, initiatives and projects aiming
to support the innovation in education were undertaken by various institutions and
individuals.
2.1 Innovative projects in education
In 1990, the Institute for Education Sciences, with the UNESCO support, was implementing
the first research project concerning the use of computers in schools, providing equipments
for 6 school labs and then organising 2 disseminating conferences.
Especially before 2000, private initiatives supported some projects aiming computer
integration into educational activities, most of them providing funding for computer
acquisition. For example, Procter&Gamble selected 160 schools based on a competition of
proposals (P&G project). Approximately 800 computers (5 per school) were provided by P&G
in partnership with IBM, MER, Xnet (local ISP founded by a GSM operator), ProTV (local
television) and Save the Children Foundation. Several applicant schools expressed their
intention to use computers for community benefit, training parents or using the labs to offer
multimedia services at low prices.
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In the early 90´s, a project funded by the Soros Foundation was set up with the intention of
promoting new ICTs for teaching and learning. 314 schools were equipped with IT labs
comprised of 10-20 computers between 1992 -1996, and teachers were trained to use UNIX.
Satellite antennas were set up for communication between schools in four main cities in
Romania (Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj and Timisoara). The total budget was around 4 million USD.
A similar relevant example can be picked up also from the middle 90´s, when a non-
governmental organisation provided computer networks to schools, accompanied by IT
training sessions for teachers. At that time, a number of 110 computers were placed by the
EOS Foundation in Romanian schools. EOS is acting now in Timisoara, delivering teacher
training courses in using ICT for education.
Since the 90´s, within the framework of European programmes such as Socrates-Minerva,
eLearning, eContentplus, FP5, FP6 etc., a series of projects have been developed in
partnership with institutions from other European countries.
In recent years it has been noticed a general trend shifting from the access to technology
(equipping schools with ICT tools) to the access to quality eContent and to virtual learning
spaces. For instance, in 2005-2006, the Take Part Too project, partially funded by the
European Commission through Socrates-Minerva, was implemented in Romania by the
Institute for Education Sciences and TEHNE – Centre for Innovation and Development in
Education, with partners from UK and Denmark. The Take Part Too project aimed to provide
young people the opportunity to take active and responsible roles in European multicultural
societies, by creating an ICT based platform for collaboration, exchanging opinions and
decision-making on local and global issues. The “simulation game” of Take Part Too was
played by 14 to 18 years old learners and their teachers (facilitators) in three different
countries: Romania, Denmark and the UK.
2.2 National programmes
A. RoEduNet
The Romanian Education Network programme
(RoEduNet) was initiated in June 1993 and began with
the installation of the Central Node at the University
Politehnica of Bucharest. From the very beginning
RoEduNet was conceived as an open structure, offering
free access to the academic, scientific and cultural non-
profit institutions. Once the first institution was connected
– the University of Bucharest, August 1993 – the nucleus
of the academic data communication infrastructure was
created.
The structure remains open to all universities as well as
to non-profit scientific and cultural institutions. A large percentage of the education
institutions in Romania are now connected to the Internet through RoEduNet.
B. SEI programme (Sistem Educational Informatizat - Education IT-Based System)
Enhancing education with new ICTs was stated in 1998 by the Ministry of Education and
Research as a priority, and concrete actions were taken beginning 2001. The premises and
incentive of SEI national programme are three-folded, based on: the social and political
commitment (harmonisation within EU framework principles, objectives and actions), the e-
readiness objectives and the education process efficiency development.
The goal of the SEI programme is introducing IT as a teaching/learning tool in lower and
upper secondary education. Schools are provided with computerized laboratories in order to
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support the IT-Based teaching/learning process. Besides the availability of technology in the
school, it aims to establish a high level of interactivity and direct, personal experimentation of
phenomena and scientific theories by learners. The program was approved in early 2001 by
the Information Technology Promotion Group – a task force integrated by several ministries
and presided by the Romanian Prime Minister – with an initial estimated budget of 200 mil.
USD. It is implemented in partnership by the state administration and the private sector, the
main companies involved being SIVECO Romania, HP Romania, and IBM Romania.
Several parts of the programme have been
run since 2001 – equipping schools with IT
labs; developing educational software and
eContent; training human resources;
connecting education institutions to the
Internet ad continuous technical support –,
and important goals have been achieved:
• 4.780 IT labs, each comprising a
network of 15 to 25 computers have
been delivered and configured (a total
figure of 78.000 computers),
• basic operating software was installed on every computer,
• An AeL learning (and) management system was installed on every network,
• 65.000 pre-university teachers were trained until 2006,
• 1.674 multimedia lessons for 10 curriculum subjects were elaborated considering
rigorous pedagogical principles.
Within the SEI programme some additional projects were also developed, such as: the
national computerized evaluation of text-books (EvalMan); high-school computerized
admission (ADLIC); IT support for the national examination for teaching positions in all
Romanian schools; the development of a SEI education portal, etc.
C. eLearning.Romania programme
eLearning.Romania is an initiative of several
civil society institutions (TEHNE – Centre for
Innovation and Development in Education;
ASTED – Association for Education
Sciences, and the National Foundation for
Community Development), developed in
collaboration with two research centres in
universities (University of Bucharest an
University Politehnica of Bucharest) and with
a national research institute in education
(Institute for Education Sciences). Decision-
makers, academics, researchers,
practitioners, opinion leaders and educational software developers were involved within a
community meant to share resources since the beginning of 2006, when the programme
started. Other institutions from private sector supported this initiative (Altfactor Ltd., Agata
Publishing House).
The eLearning.Romania programme aims to raise the quality and the efficiency of the
computer-assisted education area, through offering theoretical support; disseminating best
practices and significant local elearning experiences; providing continuous informing
regarding events and relevant announcements; promoting available solutions and systems
and services for elearning.
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The eLearning.Romania community complements the efforts of the governmental institutions
in charge of the policies and strategies with a strong elearning component.
D. Knowledge Economy project
The Knowledge Economy project is implemented by the Government of Romania through the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and is financed by the
World Bank with a total budget of USD 70 million. The KE project (with a lifespan from 2006
to 2010) aims to support knowledge-driven activities at the national level, as well as directly
within local communities, and in particular to accelerate the participation of knowledge-
disadvantaged communities in the knowledge economy. The target groups are around 250
rural and small urban communities in Romania, where local community e-Networks will be
established to ensure access to knowledge through a number of services and technologies,
including computers, Internet services and specific content provision for different target
groups (citizens, businesses and pupils). The project has a strong education component,
which aims to pilot “an education model based on teaching and learning through ICT”
integrating computers and Internet access within the primary and lower secondary schools.
Even though the project started more than a year ago, little information about the progress
and achievements is available yet.
3 ICTs in the pre-university education system
The major needs to be addressed in the respect of using ICTs for instruction refers to the
appropriate educational software, the skills to use it and the competences for teachers to
build learning situations using various IT tools. Diverse support measures, teacher-training
programmes and computer-based learning material development projects are part of the
introduction of ICTs in the classroom process. Various usages of ICTs in the education
system give the measure of the complexity of this activity. Studies and reports are available
in Romania referring to the implementation practices, effects, stakeholders’ perception and
practitioners’ opinions.
3.1 IT and Informatics as curriculum subjects
The National Council for Curriculum developed, in the late 90´s, a new curriculum for
Informatics. Therefore, IT classes address specific objectives which deal with programming
languages. In this area, a lot of high schools have success stories about outstanding results
in ICT contests or Olympiads. “Elite” high schools have better results due to the better
equipment and support provided to skilled students by teaching and management staff.
Today, there are a lot of well-trained IT specialists in Romania, proving a high quality of
education in this subject matter. Several years ago, Romania was considered to have 109 IT
specialists (higher education graduated) per 100.000 inhabitants – one of the best
percentages in the world.
3.2 Technology as an administrative tool
Various projects developed by the MER show the strengths of ICTs as a delivery mechanism
or for administration.
EMIS
The nationwide Educational Management Informational System (EMIS) project, implemented
as a pilot in 10 schools, is designed to provide educational, financial, informational and
administrative management at all levels of the national education system. EMIS was set up
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within Pre-university Education Reform, the Management and Financing component
programme initiated and developed by the Romanian Government with the support of the
World Bank. No data about the actual use of EMIS is available.
portal.edu.ro
A communication platform for pupils and teachers was set up in early 2002 at the web
address www.portal.edu.ro as a portal for the SEI programme, to support the education
system by providing teaching assistance materials, facilitating some administrative activities,
encouraging the flow of information, etc. The platform currently reaches 3 million pages
visited monthly. A number of over 100.000 user accounts – mostly teachers and students – are
currently active on the SEI portal.
AeL
AeL (from Advanced eLearning) is the core of the SEI programme, offering support for
teaching and learning; evaluation and grading; curriculum design and content management.
It also assists process management and monitoring and administration, and provides tools
for communication and synchronization between the local solutions within the national SEI
framework. Within the AeL application, the local, regional and country administrations are
provided with managerial and administrative support. The IT laboratories (local solutions) are
integrated in a logical network comprising all the schools in a county. All Romanian counties
are integrated in a national network connected to and coordinated by the SEI management
unit located at the MER.
ADLIC
The ADLIC (Admiterea in liceu – High School admission) project was first implemented in
2001 to support the national admission and distribution of secondary school graduates in
high schools and vocational centres. The project helped to centralize all the results of the
secondary school graduation examination and each candidate’s preferences for certain high
schools (each candidate can express hundreds of ordered options). Each secondary school
graduate in Romania was distributed by an automated process. The project reduced the
processing time of the admission and distribution dramatically (previously performed
manually), also ensuring a high level of security and transparency. The project is considered
a success; both because of its immediate business benefits and because of the public impact
produced by IT (including Internet) applied in a large scale, for its public interest and critical
mission. The procedure and the project were therefore further applied.
EvalMan
The EvalMan (Evaluarea Manualelor - Evaluating Textbooks) project has offered IT support
since 2002 for the recommendation and public acquisition of school manuals in Romania.
This is a procedure organized by the MER. The publishing houses offer anonymous books for
evaluation, and then a secure software system randomly selects for each subject a group of
evaluators from a predefined list of certified professionals. This system allows the
centralization of the evaluation results and helps to publish the results.
3.3 Technology as a complement to formal instruction
Some Romanian companies (Altfactor, SIVECO Romania, Softwin - Intuitext, Romsym Data,
Infomedia Pro, Spidernet, ISA Multimedia etc.) have developed educational software
packages to support the learning of subjects such as foreign languages, Mathematics,
Physics, Biology, Chemistry etc. Some programmes have also been designed as test-
builders, helping teachers and trainers to easier evaluate the learners’ progress. The scarcity
of financial resources of schools makes almost impossible the acquisition of software, but
there are cases when enthusiastic teachers purchase it and use it in the classroom.
Another area of interest when scanning the possibilities of ICTs as a complement to formal
instruction are the online resources made available, mostly for free by enthusiasts and/ or
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within funded projects, on some well-known (by teachers) websites. Some examples worth
our attention, mostly because of their “tradition” in providing support in a medium where
educational initiatives proved fluctuant due to their non-for-the-profit presence on the Internet.
It seems that enthusiasm lasts longer in the cases of ScoalaOnline (Online School or e-
Scoala), www.didactic.ro and www.1educat.ro. They are providing support for teaching and
learning, offering useful information and electronic material for class activities.
3.4 Technology as instructional tool
Some documents, surveys and discussions of the last years reveal that teachers request
dedicated software modules for every subject – educational content and electronic tests. The
lessons prepared and delivered so far in high schools are not sufficient but, on the other
hand, one or two pc laboratories in each school cannot cover the study hours needed to be
completed with computer assistance.
Furthermore, there is to be noticed a lack of integration of ICTs in a way that creates new
educational situations in subject areas other than IT-specific.
Among the pedagogical methods implemented in high-schools we can find: the tutorial
strategy, including dialogs, where the computer is used to teach part of a subject; drill and
practice; the use of databases as a resource and modelling and simulations, either in the
guided discovery mode or in the insight development mode. None of these techniques is
exclusive, and using a simple or a mixed strategy depends on the subject, the pedagogical
aims, the time available and the age range of students. As with other aspects of computer-
based learning in Romanian high schools, our knowledge is far from complete and therefore
several directions should be pursued.
The existing computer-based programme developed by SIVECO and distributed in high
schools integrates learning modules from the two main categories, which represent two
different approaches to the use of computers for education.
In one category, unfortunately less exploited than it should be, the computer is used for
teaching and learning a certain amount of information/ knowledge. In this case, the software
includes modules that are able to check students’ progress, offer help and assistance with
learning, assist pupils facing problems related to the material comprehension, etc. Pace may
vary from group to group or learner to learner, and even mastery learning is presented as
being possible for all students because of the highly interactive capabilities of the computer
and the possibility of setting up individualised training routes. In this case, the pedagogical
strategy is included within the program (Noveanu, 2003). It should however be emphasized
that this kind of practice is yet far of its potential and even far from its declared success in
actual classrooms.
In the second category the user is expected to learn from the use of the computer, but the
computer is not expected to teach anything. The teaching process, the checking of the
learner’s progress, the assistance of those with learning problems and the presentation of
various learning approaches are left to the teacher. The software allows the user to ask
questions, to undertake experiments, to explore the area of knowledge, to ask for exercises
of different levels of difficulty, etc, and the user is expected to do so at various steps of a
pedagogical strategy which has been defined by the teacher for that particular moment.
The computer-based learning modules of the second category are much easier to design and
implement, mainly because each module is a single step in a pedagogical strategy the
developer might not be familiar with, and not a set of steps defining a complete pedagogical
strategy as in the case of first category. Moreover, the software modules are much shorter,
firstly for the above reason and secondly because the computer asks no questions, therefore
there is no need for extra-pieces of software devoted to the student’s answer analysis.
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In the first step now being completed in Romania, much of the software produced consists in
pieces related to the compulsory curriculum objectives. There are two problems on which
teachers usually put emphasis on:
1. The regular use of this software doesn’t allow teachers to attain the learning
objectives, partially due to the limited time and the overloaded compulsory curriculum,
and partially due to the uncertainty of teachers in using such new tools, conducting to
time-consuming computer-assisted teaching activities.
2. The rapid changes of compulsory curriculum for some disciplines maintain a
distance between the learning objectives and the content of educational software
provided by the MER.
Along with the management and delivery of various content types such as interactive
multimedia, tutorials, exercises, simulations, educational games etc., AeL allows the
development of various learning modules. Within the limits of their confidence, skills and
know-how, teachers can:
create content (built-in HTML
editor, mathematical formulae
editor, test editors and wizards,
glossaries/ dictionaries editor);
import/export content from
files, archives/folders of
resources, standard packaging
formats;
adapt or modify content;
derive their own courses from
common content components.
Content can be structured and
adapted upon teacher’s needs,
and enriched with metadata
related to curricula, keywords,
version, author etc. Access
privileges on user/ user-group level may be applied to any part of the knowledge base. The
knowledge base may be browsed hierarchically, filtered or searched.
Tests are integrated with study records, keeping the system track of each student’s history
and evolution.
After the initial phase of development and implementation, AeL was re-considered in the view
of strong pedagogical and psychological basis for further curricular content. More than an
option, the pedagogical principles integration is recognised today as a must for high-quality
added value of educational software to be used in the Romanian education system.
4 ICTs in higher education
Regarding the higher education system, the level of implementation of the new learning
technologies as well as of up-to-date ICT infrastructure is quite high, mainly due to the
involvement of Romanian higher education institutions within European and international
projects in the field of technology-enhanced learning or aiming at institutional development.
Besides the know-how transfer, the higher education institutions benefit of higher funding
resources through these programmes, which have increased substantially the funds received
from the Romanian Government through different national programmes.
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Consequently, all the higher education institutions have set-up Distance Education
departments and some of them Technology Enhanced Education units which deal with the
implementation of the new teaching methodologies within the traditional education activities.
Some of the already “historical” initiatives in the field of implementing ICT in higher education
are presented here. We must say that even though a lot of quality elearning programmes are
operational within universities, legislative regulations are yet awaited for these programmes
to rise.
CREDIS (Centre for Resources, Documentation, Information and Services for Open Distance
Learning).
The Open Distance Learning Department of the University of Bucharest was established in
1994. It offers various distance courses, either initial, continuous or post higher education. By
the Governmental Decision 944 /29 Aug. 2002 the University of Bucharest has 15 authorized
specializations to function by distance education. The distance education programs have,
comparing to the regular studies program, the same curriculum, the same specialization,
equivalent diplomas and all the rights of the graduates assured by law. The distance study
program offered by CREDIS provides specific resources, individual learning tutoring, bi-
directional communication and self-assessment facilities. The new ICT tools used are: CD-
ROM, e-books, audio-video tapes, websites, and virtual laboratory. Formative assessment
methods are used, as well as final examination. The elearning platform can be found at
http://portal.credis.ro
SNSPA (National School for Political and Administrative Studies)
As an example, the SNSPA´s Faculty of Political Sciences has also a distance education
program for post high education level. The admission procedure takes into account the
Bachelor diploma marks as well as the results of a short interview according to a fixed
number of places. It also provides tutorial facilities (speciality guiding and coordination of the
student), run by university teachers and researchers. The curriculum is the same as for the
regular program and ends with examinations accounting a certain number of credits. The
program is flexible with regard to the dates of the exams, recognition of the diplomas and
opportunity to enter the regular studies program. Any student may take the diploma exam
proving the accomplishment of the required number of credits from the analytical curriculum.
Romanian-European eUniversity
The University Politehnica of Bucharest has various different type projects in the field of
elearning. The most visible is the Socrates-Minerva project “Romanian-European
eUniversity” (RE2U), launched in October 2002. RE2U (http://www.reu.pub.ro/re2u) intends
to promote a critical and responsible use of ICT to support the innovative processes of the
Romanian higher education system required in view of its full adaptation to the changes
occurring in the economic and social context. It aims at developing a Romanian virtual
university based on state-of-the-art innovative teaching and learning methodologies and
emerging ICTs. The main challenges undertook by the Romanian-European eUniversity
initiative (as stated by the project team) are:
• to design and implement a platform that will foster the inter-institutional
collaboration at national and international level;
• to establish the capacity of quality content production and quality services
provision in a national and international partnership context;
• to build a training system for the higher education teachers and trainers on
the use of ICT for learning;
• to accompany Romanian higher education institutions in their process of
institutional, organizational, pedagogical and economic innovation.
ASE - Academy for Economic Studies
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ASE is one of the first universities from Romania establishing a distance education
department. Yet it was mainly about the correspondence education than using modern
information and communication technologies. Today, ASE has several virtual campuses for
students, offering also support materials for learning.
5 ICTs and teacher training
Centralised row data (made available by SIVECO Romania) of a survey run on 15,503
teachers using AeL indicates clearly the optimistic view of educators and administrators
concerning the general use of educational software for education and, in particular,
concerning the use of AeL for teaching, learning and administrating classroom activities. A lot
of interesting suggestions were made for further improvement of the AeL platform –
ergonomic design, new functions, enhanced or new applicability, additional modules and so
on. As a general suggestion, almost all teachers recognised the usefulness of more training
sessions, both in using the computer and in using the computer for teaching. Furthermore,
specialised training courses were requested.
There is a clear need to help teachers initiate, prepare and manage educational activities
with the use of new technologies. Teachers indicate that their level of choice is still limited
due to a lack of learning objective-focused educational software, but most of all due to the
lack of appropriate training courses.
5.1 Teachers’ attitude and skills in using ICTs
Most of the teachers and school managers complain about the difficulties in working with the
educational software provided by the MER and about the lack of resources allocated for
upgrades, for software acquisition from the free market and for appropriate training. Other
sources indicate that the computer labs and the AeL platform are underused by teachers and
pupils in high schools. Punctual questions also reveal that, with some interest, teachers can
easily overcome the problems and set up good classes within AeL labs.
The implementation of the SEI programme is a complex process and there have been many
critical aspects to be dealt with during its various phases, derived from the programme’s
scale.
In spite of the difficulties, teachers and schools staff are optimistic. They consider that time
and decision-makers will be able to solve the gaps of the school computerization process
through a proper policy. Until more and more students are able to have their own computers
at home, supported by the parents and pushed by the labour-market demands to gain more
experience and skills, an increased rhythm of learning and formal curriculum integrating ICTs
risks to remain behind, old-fashioned and not attractive.
In order to have the teachers’ support, actions have been taken in several directions, at
national and regional level and in each school: mass-media campaigns, training of teachers
and administrative personnel, dissemination sessions, seminars and workshops.
A very strong emphasis was put on the acceptance of technology as a special tool
(considering its power). The main issues identified are:
Fear for “replacement of the teacher by the computer”
Fear for “the unknown”.
The MER is currently implementing two methods to gain the teachers acceptance of the
program:
AeL training offered within SEI is officially equivalent with the courses that are
mandatory for teachers within continuous training programs;
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Teachers receive special financial benefits for classes taught using computer-
assisted learning (e.g. 1 physical hour of teaching is counted as 1,25 teaching hours
etc.).
Usually, training courses (other than those dealing with the AeL use) that teachers reach are
Informatics courses, PC-oriented, and most of the curricula insist too much upon the
operating system or even the “hardware architecture” of a PC. This often leads to a distorted
vision on what a PC is and on the role of the computer in classroom activity.
Furthermore, sometimes the courses are called Computer Assisted Instruction and the
content presents the use of office tools. The confusion between PC literacy and knowing how
to use educational software as a support tool for education is therefore spread between
teachers, narrowing their positive attitude towards computers and diminishing their motivation
to acquire skills for using ICTs for teaching and learning. Some demo-classes are run by
teachers using computers, mostly to gain the appreciation of their colleagues or school
inspectors, but the practitioners’ confidence in new technologies and their potential to build
better learning situations is still low.
5.2 Training staff in implementing and maintaining technologies
Since June 2003, a significant number of persons (more than 65.000) have been directly
trained by SIVECO experts to integrate AeL software within education. Over 1.500 of them
were auxiliary employees such as system administrators, librarians, and school secretaries.
In each of the over 1.400 high-schools in which IT equipment was implemented, a
supplementary number of 2 to 4 persons were trained as hardware system administrators.
Not many schools pay the importance of hiring a system administrator. If he/she is missing,
an IT teacher or a simple school technician (usually they are not qualified in IT) must
accomplish the supervision, control and network technical assistance as a cumulative task. It
is no surprise that without a proper maintenance, computers break down fast.
Being asked what are the problems to deal with during the computer-assisted lesson,
teachers’ answers reveal the same issues, most of them technical:
Hardware and software problems
The sequences are rolling very slow
The network blocks often
AeL server works very slow
Many students and a small number of computers
Differences between computers’ configuration and hardware performance
The working rhythm of students is higher than the system allows
Lessons design for subjects not included in AeL software
Slow downloads due to the poor Internet connection speed
In the schools that have employed a system administrator, he solves the minor problems or
calls a specialized firm. Schools managers declare that with newer computers it is much
easier because they are still in the warranty period and firms are obliged to fix them.
However, it is harder with old computers (Pentium I and II). They break down often and
schools cannot find money easily to replace different parts or increase their performance
(upgrades). When speaking about how quick they repair computers, the “elite” high schools
estimate a period of 1-2 days; the others, 10 days or longer.
5.3 Teacher training in using ICT for education
Curriculum limited to the general use of computers as ECDL, ICDL or comprising information
about standard application packages as Microsoft Office, is often delivered within teacher
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training programmes, instead of CAI curriculum. Even in the Teacher Training Departments
of the best Romanian universities there is still a confusion between being PC literate and
knowing how to use computers to design and to support learning situations.
Most of the actual in-service and pre-service training courses for teachers focus on computer
literacy, emphasising general tools, such as word processors and databases management
systems.
SIVECO’s training programme, implemented in high schools as part of the SEI programme,
has particular characteristics, being designed to prepare teachers to handle with the AeL
program and comprising a mixture of computer network administration, computer literacy and
information about how to use the lessons provided and how to create their own electronic
content for classes.
Anyway, principals complain about insufficient training to use computers for different
subjects.
Cheap and fast solutions as online courses for training teaching staff are insufficiently
considered. Still, initiatives such as Academia Online – an exclusively online training
programme set up by InsideMedia Ltd. with the support of the Institute for Education
Sciences – demonstrate the availability of the Internet for some Romanian teachers. In the
first year of functioning (2004), Academia Online got the attention of more than 2.000
teachers in pre-university level, which enrolled voluntarily in about 4 courses each. It is
worthy to be noticed that Academia Online affords to keep more than half of the courses
(three of them specially addressed to in-service teachers) free of charge.
The improvement of teachers’ competencies through this kind of distance courses has not
been yet the object of a proper evaluation, but there is an obvious implicit formative aspect
which resides in the achievement of an increased digital literacy. On the other hand, the
opportunities and experiences offered by such programmes keep educators and learners’
expectations at a high level, avoiding the acceptance of poor e-learning products such as
digital page turners, computerised frontal teaching, low quality content, etc.
5.3.1 Pre-service training
According to a recent order of the Ministry of Education and Research (2005), the pre-service
teacher training programmes provided by the Teacher Training Departments have been
reorganized beginning with the university year 2005-2006. The new curriculum is structured
in two modules:
• Module I (30 credits) is integrated in the first 3 (or 4) years of study (the Bachelor cycle).
The graduating paper allows the graduate to teach only until he/she gets the “on-the-job
confirmation” certificate.
• Module II (30 credits) can be performed only after getting the Bachelor degree and it is
mandatory in order to obtain the “on-the-job confirmation” certificate. This module
includes a compulsory course of “Computer-Assisted Instruction”.
The difficulties of developing and supporting an appropriate training course of Computer
Assisted/ Based Instruction (CAI) stem from the lack of specialists and the lack of sufficient
adequate software to furnish examples of a variety of types of usage in a specific academic
area. Some Teacher Training Departments within universities provide a CAI course, but most
of them deliver PC literacy content under the name of Computer Assisted Instruction.
5.3.2 In-service training
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The in-service teacher training can be organised by Teacher Training Departments in
universities, by Teachers’ Houses (a support structure of the education system, comprised by
one resource-centre institution in each county), by NGOs and by companies, through
accredited training programmes.
The need to provide more opportunities for in-service teachers was addressed by an early
initiative to create a Distance Education Centre within the Institute of Educational Sciences
(IES). Seven Distance Education Centres were equipped in 1997. The intention was that
teachers would receive training in a series of modules supplemented by continuous tutoring.
These activities were never implemented, due to the lack of political and financial support.
In 2001, the National Council for Curriculum run series of courses for teachers, comprising
general considerations about integrating ICTs in teaching and learning activities; examples of
lessons making use of new technologies; examples of educational software and applications
within classroom activities evaluating computer-based learning and suggestions for school-
based curriculum development. Methodological guides for teachers were issued for every
compulsory school level (at that time) – meaning two guides of Information and
Communication Technologies in Teaching and Learning – distributed through Schools
Inspectorates to primary and secondary schools. Even though there are many cases when
large parts of some counties didn’t receive any material, the way such a big task was put in
practice is considered a success. The information basis provided by these guides is good
and useful, but every educational software example is either obsolete, impossible to
purchase or develop by common teachers or addresses learning needs in an inappropriate
manner. Maybe this narrow applicability is the reason why few teachers seem to remember
today these guides and even fewer seem to use them.
Recent projects get more attention from teachers and more support on behalf of the Ministry
of Education and Research. Some projects, aiming to train teachers in using technologies for
education, are even proposed and sustained by private companies. For instance, the Intel
Teach training programme started a couple of months ago and will be implemented by
SIVECO Romania during 2007-2008 for teachers on various subject-matters. Intel Teach
Essentials Course is developed by Intel Corporation and the Institute of Computer
Technology (USA) and promotes “a student-centred approach and active methods through a
proper usage of new ICTs in the classroom”. The course comprises 32 hours of face-to-face
training, 16 hours of practical activities and 42 hours of individual study. Around 100 trainers
are currently being prepared to deliver the course to the education practitioners in Romania,
with the aim to train 60.000 teachers by 2010.
6 Relevant events and resources
Among the various initiatives, projects, seminars, conferences, resource centres established
during the last 10 years, we choose to present some of them, relevant by their importance or
relevance within the history and the present of elearning in Romania.
eLiT Education – Excellence in Learning through Innovative Technologies in Education, the
eLiT Education project is an initiative of the British Council Romania aiming to connect the
relevant agents from Romania and abroad in order to promote excellence in the educational
practice. There have been a series of conferences on topics like quality assurance in
instructional design and e-content, dissemination of results of relevant elearning projects
from abroad. Through these conferences, the eLiT Education project aims to initiate the
project planning process facilitating an open consultation among main stakeholders in the
field of ICT for education. (www.elit-education.ro)
Institute for Information Technologies in Education
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The Romanian focal point of the UNESCO IITE is a country node within the international
network of the Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO – Moscow),
established in Politehnica University of Bucharest, Centre for Advanced Learning Systems,
which is organizing different training and dissemination seminars on elearning topics, as part
of larger projects initiated periodically by IITE Moscow.
Institute for Education Sciences
A significant virtual resource centre for elearning established by the Institute for Education
Sciences, linking tools and providing information for elearning practitioners, decision-makers
and researchers. The website www.elearning-forum.ro is also a meeting arena for opinion-
leaders and elearning stakeholders.
TEHNE – Centre for Innovation and Development in Education
The Centre has developed the www.elearning.ro website, gathering a community of
individuals and institutions participating within the eLearning.Romania programme – a
resource centre and the main specialised national communication channel in the field.
Furthermore, several projects targeting innovation and the use of ICT in education have been
developed by TEHNE within a broader programme called Computer Assisted Instruction and
Elearning. For instance, the main research evaluation studies looking upon the achievements
of the MER’s SEI programme and upon the impact of AeL on the education process were
designed and developed by the Centre, with the support of Ministry of Education and
Research, SIVECO Romania, and ASTED – Association for Education Sciences.
7 Conclusions
The general report of the thematic debate “eLearning” held in 2002 in Bucharest within the
Pan European Regional Ministerial Conference (in preparation of the World Summit on the
Information Society) states that “the integration of technology brings together educational
methods, contents, services, new media, the Internet, and globally available information
networks. As a consequence of globalisation of economies and labour markets, this implies
full utilisation of international knowledge as well as its delivery on a global scale. While this
characteristic feature of the end of the 20th century is profound change in economic structures
and markets, education and training systems are not yet adequately prepared for that
change.”
The declaration is older than the latest developments within the Romanian education reform,
but today the system is facing the same question: Is the education system ready to
accomplish the new tasks? The readiness must be considered in terms of institutional
capacity, properly trained staff and access to technology.
European working documents reviewing countries progress in implementing ICTs in the
education system have noticed that equipment is usually the first item on a policymaker’s
agenda. EU member states are, however, reporting that investing in equipments only, even
to begin with, is not the best option.
The focus must be, from the very beginning, on the educational uses of ICT. It has been
increasingly recognised that the main challenge in the integration of ICT is not introducing the
hardware, but getting the staff ready and developing educational uses that will effectively
contribute to the attainment of the fundamental objectives and the evolving needs of learners.
The real impact of evolving technologies upon education and training systems, as most of the
researches envisage, refers to the shift in considering education for all, consisting in the
empowerment of individualised instruction, stimulation of creative potential and cognitive
skills for future knowledge-builders, development of competences and skills for life-long
learning.
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Nowadays, most of the Romanian efforts in the area of elearning are directed towards the
educational use of ICT. A coherent strategic document dealing specifically with technology-
enhanced education is under development and its policy recommendations could represent
the accent needed for a responsible usage of computers and Internet for education purposes,
on a large scale. But the sustainable results could only be achieved through a more pro-
active attitude of education policy makers, of the education practitioners and of the entire
society, because such a shift goes far beyond a simple governmental decision and the
education renewing is not the responsibility of a single institution.
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Acknowledgements
This study relies on data and information from the Ministry of Education and Research, Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology, SIVECO Romania, University “Politehnica” of Bucharest
(Centre for Advanced Learning Systems), and TEHNE – Centre for Innovation and Development in
Education.
Author
Olimpius Istrate
Associate Researcher at the Institute for Education Sciences, Bucharest;
Assistant Professor at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and
Education Sciences
olimpius.istrate@fndc.ro
Citation instruction
Istrate, Olimpius (2007). eLearning in Romania: the State of the Art. eLearning Papers, no. 5.
ISSN 1887-1542.
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