The Impact of the VUCA Environment on the Digital Competences of Managers in the Power Industry

The article presents the scope of issues related to the impact of the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) environment on digital competences of management staff in power companies. Each company has to deal with its own individual and personalized VUCA world typical for the power industry. Unfortunately, some organizations are not aware of its existence, and therefore they do not identify the signals coming from the external environment while still working according to the developed patterns. The VUCA approach requires changing the competency model in enterprises and focusing on its strengths. On this basis, the research problem regarding power enterprises was formulated. The problem discussed in the article below concerns the undefined and undefined influence of the VUCA environment on the emerging digital competences of managers. In connection with the identification of the research problem in this area, an attempt was made to define the aim of the study, which is to determine the impact of the connections of the VUCA world with digital competences of managers in the energy sector. To solve the research problem, quantitative research was carried out on a randomly selected sample of managers. It has been shown that leaders are more or less aware of the existence of the VUCA world. As key competences, they mention the ability to develop and adapt digital technologies to the needs of the organization or the ability to flexibly switch thinking between various problems. The novelty of the work is the identification of the connections between the VUCA world and competences and the provision also through the prism of artificial intelligence. The existence of links between the VUCA environment and digital competences was indicated, and the use of VUCA as a determinant of the impact on changing the perception of employees was analyzed.

SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE WRITING OF THE PROPOSAL DURING THE PANDEMIC

Modern technology has already changed the way we live, but the COVID-19 pandemic has provided us educators with an unprecedented situation in which we are faced with the enormous challenge of teaching online for a long period of time. It is therefore important to analyse various techniques for getting the most out of distance teaching, especially in a synchronous mode. The aim of the study discussed in this article was to analyse students’ attitudes towards collaborative online work undertaken in synchronous mode during the pandemic. Thirty-three first-year BA students studying English Philology participated in this study. Respondents reflected on the process of online, synchronous collaboration via MS Teams by answering an online survey. The results of the study revealed that collaborative learning allows participants to actively participate in an online lesson, interact with others, co-construct a writing task, apply the new language introduced in lessons in a practical task and receive almost instant feedback. Consequently, any sense of isolation the students may feel is reduced and a sense of community is developed. In addition to this, a collaborative task enhances students’ use of academic skills and the development of key competences that can lay the foundation for lifelong learning.

Towards new Dimensions of Environmental Education at “P. Kr. Yavorov” Secondary School – the First Eco-school in Varna and the Region

Today we all live in an extremely dynamic world which provokes a variety of challenges related not only to health but also to education and social isolation. It appears that many young people are motivated and ambitious to shape their own future gaining experience and confidence during the school years. Many of their ideas have a creative and rational potential which triggers socially useful initiatives and projects on regional, national or international level. Participation in eco projects, volunteering and supporting social causes combines studying and practical activities and, thus, raises the quality of education and breaks its traditional character. And when innovation is also included, the result is predetermined and winning. Using an integrated system for ecological management, “Peyo Yavorov” Secondary School has encouraged students, teachers and parents to participate in eco initiatives for more than 20 years. This enriches their knowledge and improves the environment. Focusing on the ecological education ensures better understanding of the environmental problems with their local and global impact. Different approaches are used for developing key competences which creates later an active, healthy and environmental-friendly behavior. Activities in the eco field have proved to be effective as means of raising sensitivity and responsibility aiming at the change of one’s attitude – towards themselves, the others and the environment.

Tertiary education learning outcomes, a case study: “You want us to think!”

Present perceptions about the poor production of university students in the last decades might be the same other professors had in previous centuries. Nonetheless, more corseting forms of assessment and the irruption of new technologies can establish a difference. These factors serve the controversy when blamed for preventing intellectual development, or when also considering that ICTs are the personal mark of new generations of youths who face their outdated dinosaur teachers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a tentative case analysis of the situation to validate what seems a generalized perception of the decay of tertiary education. Our data will be obtained from answers that students of the third year of a Humanities English degree could not provide. In our approach we will consider the difficulties students have in reaching the highest levels of taxonomies like Bloom’s (1956) or Dreyfus & Dreyfus (1980) with their further modifications. Collaterally we will tackle key competences and forms of assessment. Results will present the dichotomy of maintaining the present progression or, alternatively, think again and take some action.

Pre-service Teachers' Digital Experiences through Digital Pedagogical Practices in Norway

Digital skills are one of the key competences outlined in The European Reference Framework of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning prescribed by the EU in 2006. Integration of digital tools and resources into the classroom results in more platforms for teaching and learning activities. Teacher training programmes prepare pre-service teachers with pedagogical competencies and skills necessary for their future practices. This paper shows that pre-service teachers could overcome the pedagogical challenges during COVID-19 teaching by updating their present and future classroom teaching strategies around digital literacy. To explore further how these new teaching circumstances are understood and reflected on by pre-service teachers, the researchers collected written reflections of 52 pre-service teachers in Norway using an open-ended survey about their digital integration experiences in their practicum. This paper offers analyses of the reflections inductively to reveal the teachers’ process of development of their classroom teaching strategies as influenced by new digitalisation-related experiences. The findings show low levels of digital integration according to the SAMR model but moderate to high levels of satisfaction among pre-service teachers of digital practices. In the light of these findings, this study offers pedagogical technological implications for teachers and teacher educators who work with teacher education curricula.

The value evolution of the curriculum in the current context of changes

Its superior value-teleological, normative and axiological evolution reflects and constructively processes the interactive psychological and sociocultural reality, perfectible with concrete effects, realistically anticipated on the learners, as well as on the process itself. Restructuring the school curriculum (framework plans and curricula) is necessary to promote values-based on education, creativity, cognitive skills, volitional skills and action skills, basic knowledge and knowledge skills and abilities of direct use, in the profession, in society and focus the curriculum on the formation and development / diversification of key competences. The curricular review will place greater emphasis on the development of transversal competences, including digital ones, those on sustainable development and socio-emotional competences. The argument for the need to reconfigure the current learning process is to opt for a holistic, transdisciplinary and functional-pragmatic approach to learning outcomes.

Extracurricular activities – the determinant segment in strengthening key-competences

Extracurricular activities do not represent a segment of the curriculum domain, but involve purposes aimed at skills development promoted through educational programs, thus confirming the complementary nature of teaching activities carried out during direct contact hours. Education exceeds the limits of curricular requirements, the role of extracurricular activities becoming paramount in the personality formation who tends to knowledge, performance, result and progress.

Financial Sector’s Human Performance Management

The past few years, the companies of the financial sector focus on the efficiency even better because of an economic crisis which can be experienced in a year. Because of this the many times obsolete benchmarking systems modernization became important. Characteristically at construction industry firms and the IT and the system developed by them is used in a financial sector, but any companies may be useful where it is necessary to accomplish aims for him, it is necessary to work together with others, or there are key competences, which are essential, to the filling of the scope of activities. Now the big part of the enterprises’ employees home office-ban works, the benchmarking is useful in a situation like this. The leaders’ big part suffers from lack of information in connection with his colleagues’ performance, because of this if the leaders have the aims in sight, it they onto the readiness of tasks which can be broken down, the pressing feeling stemming from the isolation decreases then.