Abstract: Technological progress has allowed the emergence of new approaches to teaching. The virtual instruments development has led to lessons based on virtual experiments – applications that simulates real-life phenomenon and are specially designed for students use. Many virtual experiments can be obtained free of charge from the Internet, but their use in the classroom involves more than these tools availability. It involves the use of new teaching techniques and training materials. Through a European project, hundreds of teachers of sciences were trained to develop and implement virtual experiments in the classroom. This paper presents some of the expectations of teachers before the start of the training course and their opinion after the class implementation.

Abstract: Language promotes the most suitable way for expressing ideas, habits and values. For a multinational educational project (Comenius 2.1.) with a widespread European target group, it is very important to provide the online educational resources (courses, virtual instruments, etc.) through the project website, in several languages: English (as a worldwide spoken language) and partners' languages. This paper briefly presents three methods to create multi-language web sites and proposes a new architecture – the hybrid method architecture. In addition an example of a multi-language web site implementation is illustrated.

Abstract: Nowadays, the presence of ICT in education became a common fact and its importance cannot be overlooked. Starting from connecting people and resources, ICT was implemented in teaching and learning on a large scale, offering a real added-value to the educational process. One of the most common implementations in education is strongly referred to the use of World Wide Web. In many applications, it is explored through its navigating functions or exploited as an information resource, but it has an important potential to be used even as a tutor. Specific web-tools, gathered under an environment called e-Space, – were created during the three years Socrates-Comenius 2.1 European project “VccSSe – Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education”, which supported the pedagogical use of virtual experiments, as a new technology in the common Science teaching and learning process. The paper presents the instruments included in the e-Space and emphasizes also on its particular aspects, organized and developed as a web resource, useful for Science teachers. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract: The paper emphasizes the principal steps developed for setting up of a web educational video-clips exhibition, composed by 50 representative video-experiments related to the implementation of the virtual experiments in Sciences education, as this was done in the frame of the Socrates-Comenius 2.1. European project: “VccSSe – Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education”. The Exhibition represents a web interface that contains the best virtual experiments produced by the in-service teachers who finalized the Virtual Instrumentation in Science Education training modules, carried out as a main output of the mentioned project. Beside the educational video-clips, other 9 on-line / remote simulating laboratories (produced by the project partnership) allow teachers and students to work directly inside the experiment. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The great potential of introducing ICT in nowadays education is well-known. Teachers become more familiar on using ICT in schools and as their experience grows, they are able to develop effective ICT-based teaching and learning tools. Many teacher training programs or continuing professional development opportunities were proposed with the declared aim to support the integration of ICT in the actual education, but also to develop on-line training / e-learning in schools. This paper illustrates the main aspects developed in a Romanian teacher training program, dedicated to all the educational levels, organized in the frame of the project called “EDUTIC – A network for teachers professional development with the view to increase the quality of ICT implementation in the Romanian primary and secondary education” (code POSDRU/19/1.3/G/37002). The overall objective of the project was to improve teachers' skills and attitudes by developing and delivering a training program which aimed to integrate ICT tools in the educational process. The training program proposed one compulsory module and two optional ones – the teachers having the possibility to select one of those last two. After the ending of the training phase, the teachers expressed their feed-back in related on-line questionnaires. In this sense, the paper presents some of their main opinions. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu

Abstract: Since the beginning of the 21st Century, massive changes took place in the field of education. New teaching and learning methods based on using modern ICT tools – like virtual experiments, educational video-clips or other multimedia products – have been implemented in the educational process. The paper presents an analysis of the impact produced by the implementation of new virtual experiments designed by 146 teachers who participated to a 40 hours training modules “Virtual Instrumentation in Science Education” organized in the frame of Socrates-Comenius 2.1. European project “VccSSe – Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education”. Different aspects and interpretation related to the challenges and difficulties encountered during the implementation process are also included. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The success of a multinational partnership depends on many factors. Probably the most important factor is represented be the adequate collaboration between the partners. The activities developed by the project partnership involve usually group decisions. Although the e-mail is the most used technology for distance collaboration, the team work within a multinational project involves collaborative activities and the decisions associated to it that only the e-mail cannot support. This paper presents several collaborative task examples and decision scenarios which are specific to many European funded multinational educational projects. The analysis of these scenarios shapes a list of features specific to different collaborative technologies that should be combined and provided into an integrated system in order to facilitate the collaborative activities developed in the frame of multinational projects.

Abstract: With the exponential development of the web, the decision-makers are likely to use the web to support their decision -making processes. In group decision-making processes supported by an information system web-based or desktop-based – one of the most important element which can influence in a great extent if the system will be or not accepted and successful used for decision making, is the user interface. In this paper, we propose an architecture of an interface for an ideal web-based group decision support system.

Abstract: The user-interface represents one very important aspect in the use of the information systems. The usability and acceptability of an information system, to a great extend, depend on the user-interface quality. The computer technology advances have changed the role of the end-user. The end-user development has become the most commonly used form of programming. It includes customization, integration and extension activities which may lead to a significant alteration of the system and may raise serious issues concerning correctness and consistency, security, and privacy. This paper presents and discusses the results of a survey meant to identify the users' awareness on the information systems usability, when users are viewed as developers.