Abstract:

The authors (Gaitanaru, A., Reinhardt, Z.) focus on the change of paradigm in pedagogy in particular, and in education in general, that came with the rapid evolution and spread of information and communication technologies (ICT).
Although the majority of the educational software used in schools and universities, along with many eLearning and training programs are adapted to comply with the classical curricula, it seems that these new forms of education – based on ICT – need a deeper and specific approach.
The new approach involves rethinking of all the curricula components: the content (which cannot remain the same, as the learning media changed); the teaching methods; the evaluation methods and criteria; the time variable and the pedagogical relation – that should become a more personal, closer one with significant results in learning.
The ICT and the Internet bring along a radical shift in the way people acquire knowledge, skills and experience. Therefore the way the educational content and its delivery have to change radically. In this context the educational entities that appear as elements of the new type of education have their origin in the object-oriented model of the computer sciences.
The authors provide both a short historical/theoretical perspective of this major shift of paradigm and a practical approach with examples and lessons learned from the implementation of a proprietary eLearning platform, created and developed in-house by the team coordinated by Dr. Andrei Gaitanaru, at the National University for Political Sciences and Public Administration, in Bucharest - Romania.
The authors consider their experience in Romania and the elements to be presented as of significant importance to the development of eLearning in Europe both on the pedagogical perspective and on the technical one.

Keywords:

education, ICT, change, elearning.