The Insertion of Economic Cybernetics Students on the Romanian Labor Market in the Context of Digital Economy and COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the insertion of Romanian students of economic cybernetics on the labor market by connecting business environment expectations with the goals of a competitive digital economy. The research is organized around three hypotheses to address the issues of both non-employed and employed economic cybernetics students. A rank-ordered probit choice model was estimated to compute the probability that a certain skill requires improvement. The empirical results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated more cybernetics students to get a job in this period. Moreover, these students present the necessary level of digital skills to be employed, but other skills need improvement: skills of analysis and synthesis, adaptability in handling crisis situations and creativity. This research reveals the lack of working experience as the main cause for rejection after an interview and the students’ tendency to overestimate their salary. This study also identified barriers of the insertion on the labor market for these students with digital skills that were not the subject of previous studies. Moreover, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their decision to get a job in this period is assessed and a few recommendations of skills improvements are provided. These results present practical implications for educational policies and the business environment in the context of achieving a competitive European digital economy. The limit of this research is given by the sample representativeness for cybernetics students only for Bucharest, but a future paper will ensure a representative sample at the national level.

Teacher leadership and teacher identity in turbulent times in Iraq

This article addresses the professional challenges faced by teacher leaders in Iraq. The country is beginning to emerge from a period of political unrest and violent threats to personal safety. This has seriously affected the educational provision; nowhere more so than in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. The article examines three issues: how teacher-leaders describe and understand their empowerment to build inclusive education systems in the post-conflict city; how professional learning communities can support inclusive practices to optimise students’ learning and build community cohesion; and what role digital skills can play in the modernisation of an inclusive Iraqi curriculum. The naturalistic enquiry approach draws on interview data from two teachers, two headteachers and two inspectors; the latter work directly with the Iraqi Ministry of Education and local communities. The findings show that, as teacher leaders reframe their understanding of the role of educational leaders in the changing context of Iraq, they become better empowered to build sustainable learning communities. Digital skills are crucial in supporting learning within and beyond the school curriculum.

Distance Learning as a Means of Digital Skills Development in High School and University Students

The present research featured the readiness of university and high school students for distance learning as a means of improving their digital skills. The survey was conducted in October 2020 and involved 807 students from schools and universities of Nizhny Novgorod aged 14–24 (M=18, SD=2.22; 62.6 % female, 37.4 % male). Six focus groups included 63 students aged 17–24 (M=18, SD=1.83; 65 % female, 35 % male). The study showed that the readiness of young people for distance learning depended on their awareness of how digital technologies changed human life during the pandemic. The research revealed four types of young people with different attitudes to distance learning. Awareness of the impact of digitalization appeared to be a powerful motivator for the use of distance learning to develop digital competencies. The constraining factors included emotional and volitional immaturity, orientation to hedonistic values, confidence in one’s own digital competence, and skepticism regarding the ability of distance education to promote professional development.

Aspects regarding Bullying, Cyberbullying in the Future Work and Digital education

Context: Digital education is the future of education? The COVID'19 pandemic has certainly affected everyone's lives. Our study started with conceptual definitions like Bullying, Workplace bullying, Cyberbullying. Methodology: Starting from the analysis of the lack of digital skills of trainers and beneficiaries with the help of the SELFIE tool, based on the Framework for digitally competent educational organizations the results are presented. In the first part we have the report with the answers of 87 teachers from Romania, Austria, Poland, Cyprus, Italy and Portugal at SELFIE Questionnaire for Teacher. In the second part we have analyses the answers of 26 leaders, 256 teachers and 1061 students at SELFIE Questionnaire-all levels from Romania and Italy. Contributions: The results of the questionnaires were analyzed and were the basis for writing a Future Work Manual, one Tool Kit and one Mobile App Future Word. How teachers and students will be prepared for the future is essential. Studies have shown that bullying and cyberbullying affect the health of victims. Future As bullying in the workplace or in the classroom is increasingly found in the virtual world in the form of cyberbullying, so are today's students, tomorrow's workers must cope with the changes in digital education.

Video Games and Accessibility

This essay aims, through a hermeneutic-argumentative approach, to present some ideas for inclusive teaching, starting with an educational re-evaluation of video games, for years considered a mere form of entertainment. Their use as educational mediators is a useful response to the needs of a school that is increasingly aware of the educational needs of all pupils. Through the recovery of the recreational dimension and the Accessibility paradigm, it is possible to offer teachers guidance and design insights in order to create educational itineraries of inclusion, finding in video games a possible tool capable of engaging the class in common activities, on the basis of equal opportunities and active participation, additionally for the development of digital skills.

Understanding Persuasion Mechanisms for Effective Communication in Online Educational Environments

This chapter aims at explaining the mechanisms of persuasion for effective communication in online educational environments. It starts by bringing awareness on the particularities of online educational environments and the psychological prerequisites of online studying. It tackles issues of digital skills as well as emotional intelligence abilities for online teaching, specific mindset and digital readiness, result expectations and assessment. Moreover, principles of microlearning and hybrid learning are explained as major approaches in online education. It then addresses issues related to technology-mediated communication with young ages vs. adults. It makes a brief analysis of mediated communication vs. direct communication in terms of adopted strategies according to age, adaptation of message, and feedback according to the online channel of factors affecting communication in online environments vs. face-to-face communication. Particular attention will be given to digital stress.

Digital Skills in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This chapter describes the digital competencies that have become essential in the workforce and how higher education institutions (HEIs) are trying to keep up in a moment in which faculty members have been acquiring digital skills alongside students. A field study was conducted with faculty from HEIs in Mexico to identify the differences between the digital skills that faculty possessed previous to the pandemic and those acquired as a result of remote work. It also analyzes the digital tools they have been provided with to perform their jobs, the training they have received, and the digital skills that they still lack to help students acquire the digital competencies demanded in the workforce. The objective is to identify areas of opportunity and create general guidelines that will help develop critical digital skills. A literature review of the most relevant aspects of digital dexterity and digital competence in higher education (HE) is presented. An analysis of the current context and how it is producing changes faster than before is also included.

Digital Communication in the Inclusive Classroom

Digital communication is being extensively used, and during COVID-19 pandemic, it has transformed the way teaching is delivered and how learning happens which became even more problematic for children with learning difficulties. The digitalization of education during the lockdown period has forced teachers, children, and parents to develop and enhance their digital skills to maintain and keep ensuring efficient learning. Digital communication can be provided in the educational system by the simple use of email or WhatsApp groups up to the integration of complex digitalized learning programs and software adapted to the specific educational needs of each student. Being digital natives, students nowadays seem more engaged if learning is mediated by the use of digital communication tools. They are opened and interested in participating in educational activities that are technology-based.

Digital Literacy in Special Education

Digital literacy is essential for individuals entering college and the workplace. Students with disabilities experience a greater challenge in acquiring the skills necessary to succeed. This chapter explores the disability digital divide, success factors for acquiring digital skills, and the implications of a digital literacy curriculum developed for special education classrooms in Idaho. It demonstrates how leveraging human performance improvement (HPI) models, incorporating universal design for learning (UDL) principles, and supporting classroom teachers resulted in a curriculum to help young people with disabilities to acquire the digital skills they need to be prepared for college and the workplace.

Salesmanship Skills in COVID-19 Times

The activities that depend on direct interaction with the customers were the most affected by COVID-19's restrictions. These include the activities developed by salespeople. This study aims to analyse the impact of salesmanship skills on sales strategy implementation and salesperson performance during the COVID-19 crisis. To achieve the research objective, the authors collected a set of data through a survey (n=517) to test a proposed conceptual model based on the literature. The findings of the study demonstrate that the salesmanship skills are an important resource in highly disruptive environments and impacts sales strategy implementation and salesperson performance. In addition, the study also reveals the important role of digital skills and intrinsic motivation during COVID-19 times. The results attained can be used as a guide to design an effective strategy for sales activities in adverse times.