The “Distinguished Chapter Leadership” award of the IEEE Education Society was awarded in 2021 to the director of the ID / IFR and eLearning Center of the Polytechnic University of Timișoara and member of IEEE Romania Education Chapter – Dr. Diana Andone – for promoting and implementing e-learning activities, but also for innovative contributions in digital education and the promotion of the IEEE Organization in Romania. The award is given annually to members who, over a sustained period of time, have made an outstanding contribution to international education.

More information you can find here.

29 editions with over 10,000 participants, along with 144 presenters, from over 30 partner institutions, in over 60 hours broadcast live on Zoom, Facebook, and Youtube platforms. #onlinetogether – the series of practical webinars dedicated to online education during the pandemic celebrates one year since its debut on April 15, 2020.

In March 2020, the closure of educational institutions hastened both the transition to the integrated use of online tools in education and the transition from traditional to online education. In a time of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face educational activities have been moved online, using applications, platforms, technologies, and various tools and methods for distance education. While the vast majority of stakeholders in the field of education have only worked in a traditional classroom, the context of the pandemic has suddenly required them to adapt to working and teaching online, to regroup quickly, and to prepare for a longer period of time of educational “social distancing”.

The #impreunaonline #onlinetogether community

In order to support teachers, students, but also all stakeholders involved in the educational process, the Politehnica University of Timișoara, through the e-Learning Centre launched the series of national webinars Online Together. Beyond exchanging valuable information, resources and experiences, with the beginning of the series we set out to build a strong community, in which teachers from universities and schools, students and pupils, people of culture and actors interested in education, technology, and innovation could find support and opportunities for collaboration. We want this community to continue to grow, encouraging collaborative work between institutions and individuals, teachers and students, but also those in the private or cultural environment, in the spirit of open education and free access to knowledge.

The Online Together webinars are organized in collaboration with IEEE Romania, the EDEN Association, and the Politehnica University of Timișoara, with guests from other universities, schools, and institutions in Romania. Launched on 15 April 2020, the #impreunaonline #onlinetogether webinar series took place online weekly, during the last year.

Over 10,000 participants from the higher and secondary education and the private environment

Within the 29 editions organized over the last year, the webinars registered a total of over 10,000 participants, including educators and actors from structures in universities and schools, students, pupils, people of culture, but also interested parties from the private sectors, coming from dozens of national and international localities.
In the Online Together webinars, we aimed to respond to the challenges faced by those who work in education, in a practical way, in the spirit of open education and free access to knowledge. Each webinar was designed interactively, with Q&A sessions through which participants had the opportunity to address hundreds of questions to the presenters. 144 presenters, along with 32 moderators, from over 30 partner institutions joined the #impreunaonline #onlinetogether movement, for over 60 hours of live broadcasts, simultaneously on the Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube platforms.

Topics presented in the national webinars focused on:

● experiences of shifting from in-campus education to online education, at different times of education during the pandemic, both among educators in the academic and school environment, as well as students and pupils;
● challenges and opportunities for stakeholders in schools and universities during the pandemic;
● use of OERs, MOOCs, learning platforms and new technologies in online education, building digital educational ecosystems;
● the impact of new technologies, AR & VR and AI in education, society, and culture;
● innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in a pandemic, but also the promotion of women in STEM.

9917 Online Together Open Badges

Access to the #impreunaonline #onlinetogether webinars is free and granted by accessing the registration links provided each week on the official website of CeL https://elearning.upt.ro/en/. Attendance is certified by an open digital certificate (Open Badge) “Online Together”. During the 29 editions, a total of 9917 Open Badges were issued, of which 9594 were for Participant, 144 for Presenter, and 32 for Moderator. The open badges are certified by Politehnica University of Timisoara and endorsed by international association EDEN and Romanian association IEEE Romania and Romanian Association of Technical Universities (ARUT).
Information https://elearning.upt.ro/en/comunitate/impreuna-online/un-an-de-webinarii-impreuna-online/
and a promotional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtRZYuJzwuo
The list of issued open digital certificates is available on https://elearning.upt.ro/en/open-badges-certificate-digitale-deschise-impreuna-online/

The recordings of the Online Together webinars, as well as some presentations of the participants and details about each edition, are available on https://elearning.upt.ro/en/impreuna-online/

“We started the webinars at a critical time for education at the national level, in times when we felt we needed to join forces more than ever, out of a vision to connect people and institutions, to share resources and information in the spirit of open education and free access to knowledge and, above all, out of the desire to collaborate for a better world. Our call had a response that exceeded our expectations and I would like to thank all those who responded to our invitations and joined the #impreunaonline #onlinetogether community, those who contributed with interesting presentations and valuable information, those who participated during the 29 webinars, interacted with us and supported us through thousands of messages, encouraging us to continue, hope and to promote the collaboration between institutions and people in shaping together the future of education! I’m especially grateful to the associations who joined and inspired us for these webinars – EDEN, IEEE Romania, ARUT. On behalf of the CeL team, we acknowledge all the contributions and thank you for being #impreunaonline #onlinetogether for the last year ”
– Dr. Diana Andone – Director of the UPT e-Learning Centre

The Online Together webinars series will continue in May 2021, on Wednesdays, hosted by the e-Learning Centre team, and with guests from the most diverse institutions and fields, cutting-edge topics, as interesting and relevant as possible for those in the field of education, innovation, culture, and the #impreunaonline #onlinetogether community.

On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 16 international speakers will present the latest news related to open education in Romania and the EU during the 8th edition of the workshop Open Education in Pandemic Times, organized within the global event Week Open Education 2021.

Almost a year after education around the world faced one of the greatest challenges in history – the inability to run traditionally in classrooms, education and online courses have become the only option for conducting courses over several months and even semesters.

Many teachers in schools and universities have struggled with adapting to work and teaching online, using applications, platforms and various work tools “overnight” for an indefinite period of educational “social distancing”.

In these conditions of uncertainty and in such a confusing period for many actors in the field of education, free access to knowledge, open education, open educational resources, and especially collaboration between individuals and institutions have become the “engine” of digital integration. and digital transformation into the most rigid and traditional education systems in the world.

How has the concept of open education actually contributed to improving the conditions for education during the pandemic?

What projects and initiatives have been set in motion by universities, associations at local, national and European level?

How can we improve collaboration at the level of universities, institutions and the community to streamline the education process even in the most vulnerable demographic areas?

2021 brings an extremely diverse edition of speakers, with a very good gender balance, with young researchers full of enthusiasm but also professors with years of experience behind, with opinions of students but also the perspective of decision makers, with guests from other universities in Timisoara but also from the country, with many international guests presenting both the didactic perspective and the organizational one, with various engineering fields, all accompanied by the obvious passion for open education.

In this period of uncertainty due to COVID-19, the eLearning Center from Politehnica University of Timisioara, organizes the series “Împreună online” (Together online) of practical webinars about online education and the experience of online activities carried out in this university and in other universities in Romania.

The webinars aim to be as practical as possible, to focus on the daily challenges the entire academia is facing now and to be in the spirit of open education and free access to knowledge. They are mainly dedicated to the university environment, teachers and students, but do not exclude the involvement of those in pre-university education.

The “Împreună online” webinars are organized in collaboration by IEEE Romania, the EDEN Association and the Politehnica University of Timisoara.

For more information and registration for the webinars, please visit the webinars web page.

The spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) is the newest and most serious threat to human health worldwide, with major effects on social life and the local and global economy.

In these difficult conditions, radical measures were taken, the suspension of face-to-face teaching activities at all the educational cycles and the extension of the work from home being only two of them.
In this context, there are numerous initiatives of various companies, professional associations (IEEE being one of them), universities that try to support the transfer of physical teaching activities in the virtual space (online) by providing free platforms, electronic documentation and online courses for using these platforms and the latest technologies, methods, and tools for distance learning and working.

The members of the IEEE Romania Education Chapter can support the efforts of their colleagues in applying these technologies in their activities, using the experience already gained and by sharing the free materials and courses provided by IEEE and its societies.

Document this approach so that, when this threat is left behind, we can share our experience in meetings and events organized by our chapter.

Concursul Tudor Tănăsescu (WWW.CONCRETT.RO), cea mai importantă întrecere profesională pentru studenții facultăților cu profil electronic, de automatică și calculatoare din Romania, are și anul acesta faza națională la București în perioada 19-21 martie 2020.

Ca și în anii trecuți concursul se va organiza, separat, la două discipline din pregatirea fundamentală a
inginerului electronist:
– CIRCUITE INTEGRATE ANALOGICE,
– SEMNALE, CIRCUITE ȘI SISTEME.
Regulile concursului sunt cele stabilite în ultimii ani:

– Proba scrisă se va defășura vineri 20 martie de la ora 10.00
– Proba practica ( numai pt. primii clasați la examenul scris) se va desfășura sâmbătă de la ora 11.00.
Pot participa din fiecare facultate, la fiecare disciplină:
– 3 studenți
– un cadru didactic îndrumator.

Site-ul IEEE Romania Education Chapter a fost lansat!