TABLE OF CONTENTS

Articles

1. Prototyping 3D Virtual Learning Environments with X3D-based Content and Visualization Tools 6

Livia Stefan (National University of Arts, Bucharest, Romania), Sorin Hermon (Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus), Marina Faka (Cyprus Institute (CYI), Nicosia, Cyprus)

2. Could Neuroenhancement be an Ethical Approach in Social Practice? 21

Antonio Sandu (Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania, University of Oradea, Romania, LUMEN Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences, Iasi, Romania), Elena Unguru (University of Oradea, Romania, LUMEN Research Center in Social & Humanistic Sciences, Iasi, Romania)

3. The Interplay among EFL Teachers' Teaching Experience, Critical Thinking, and Classroom Management 30

Maryam Zakian (University of Science and Technology of Mazandaran, Behshahr, Iran)

4. Attention as a Source of Variation in SLA 39

Naeemeh Kharaghani (Islamic Azad University, Quchan, Iran)

5. Intention Reconsideration in Wumpus World and Intentional Inference in Adolescents 45

Carlos Pelta (Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain)

6. The Impact of Teaching Critical Thinking on Iranian Students' Writing Performance and Their Critical Thinking Dispositions 64

Ali Taghinezhad (Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran), Mohammad Javad Riasati (Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran), Ehsan Rassaei (Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran), Fatemeh Behjat (Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran)

7. Success in Mobile and Ubiquitous Learning: Indicators of Effectiveness 56

Billy T.M. Wong (The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China)

8. How MOOCs Support Collaboration and Conflict Management in Schools 81

Fahriye Altınay (Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus), Gokmen Dagli (Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus & University of Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus), Zehra Altınay (Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus)

9. The Level of Proficiency of Special Education Teachers and Their Opinions on Instructional Technologies 86

Hüseyin Bicen (Near East University, Distance Learning Center, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus), Erkan Bal (Near East University, Distance Learning Center, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus), Pelin Gür (Near East University, Distance Learning Center, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus), Zöhre Serttaş (Near East University, Distance Learning Center, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus)

10. Assessment of the Contributions and Psychological Damages of Technology to Education in Schools by Individuals in These Schools 93

Behcet Öznacar (Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus)

11. Towards a MOOC-related Strategy in Romania 99

Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck

12. A Critical Analysis of Mobile Applications for Learning. Study Case: Virtual Campus App 110

Victor Holotescu (University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania), Radu Vasiu (University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania), Diana Andone (University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania)

Instructions for Authors 110

Over the last decade, learning settings on SecondLife or OpenSimulator 3D online platforms are employed as a distance service by virtualizing educational spaces or even an entire university campus. To immerse and engage the learners in a 3D space, architectural and ambient objects need to be designed, besides the transfer of the educational assets in a 3D/2.5D environment. The present research addresses the existing limitations of the current 3D online platforms in terms of content creation, management and interoperability. Several open 3D and web-based technologies, e.g. X3D or WegGL, are investigated and evaluated for their possible use for complex 3D and non-3D content in online environments. A working methodology and recommendation of tools are proposed for a more productive development and a prototyping pipeline. The tools provide a higher level of interactivity and facilitate the content visualization in browsers and mobile devices.

Neuroethics is an interdisciplinary field of research aimed at understanding the consciousness and the mind through the relationship between it and the brain's physical support. Among other things, the ethical perspective refers to the acceptability of the practices used to modify human behavior through interventions on the nervous system. Neuroethics research addresses areas such as neuro-imaging techniques, cognitive enhancement and neuro-pharmacology. We will discuss the limits and risks of the neuro-regeneration procedures given by the development of new possible classes and social categories. The article aims to present a theoretical perspective on the possible implications of neuroethics in the practice of social services. The neuroethical approach facilitates a rethinking of the ethical values in the process of ethical evolution of the technologies. The autonomy, a classic concept in bioethics and the post-Kantian traditional ethics, loses its philosophical consistency since any cognitive or ethical enhancement distorts the expressive autonomy and the authentic nature of the moral agency.

The purpose of this study is to seek the possible relationship between the classroom management, critical thinking, and years of teaching experience of Iranian EFL teachers. A total of 85 teachers (50 female and 35 male) ranging in age from 20 to 38 and varied in their ELT experience from 2 to 18 years were invited to participate in this research. The researchers employed two kinds of instruments to conduct this correlational research: (1) a questionnaire on critical thinking by Honey (2000), and (2) a questionnaire on classroom management by Martin and Sass (2010), both of which were of Likert-scale type. The result of the data analysis showed that there was an almost strong positive relationship between Iranian EFL teachers classroom management and critical thinking, which was also statistically significant, rs = .722, P Ë‚.05. The result of the Mann-Whitney U test for the second inferential statistics showed that there was a statistically
significant difference between the teachers with different teaching experiences, U=611.50, p = .008
Ë‚ 0.05. Hence, it was concluded that more experienced teachers had better classroom management
ability.

Learner differences in the field of second language acquisition could be studied from different perspectives. The reason lies in the fact that each individual is unique considering cognitive, affective and socio-cultural factors. One of the considerations in the field of individual differences is the role of attention and its different degrees in the process of language learning. This study focuses on the meaning of attention with respect to its definitions and its significant role in SLA. It discusses briefly three main approaches to the definition of attention in SLA theories namely Schmidt' noticing hypothesis, Robinson model and Tomlin and Villa's functional model of input processing. It also draws the interest of teachers to the differences exist in the field of SLA considering the role of attention in interlanguage. It concludes that teachers should recognize that not all learners have the same level of attention which is an influential factor in the process of second language learning.

Adolescence is usually described as a period of search for sensations, great impulsivity, and risky behavior. How can this circumstance affect the intentional inference of adolescents who have to reconsider their intentions after performing a task? In this article we show that adolescents who had seen a very cautious agent acting in a Classic Wumpus World (CWW) environment and who had quite reliably predicted their movements in a later round, adopted a much more risky prediction of the agent's movements when they had to reconsider some of their original intentions in a slightly modified Wumpus World environment (or MCWW-Modified Classic Wumpus World-version). This result could support the vision of adolescents as optimistic improvisers in their decisionmaking processes.

Mobile and ubiquitous learning has been a key focus in e-learning and practising broadly worldwide. Among the research publications in this area, a majority of them focused on evaluating the effectiveness of relevant practices and reported positive outcomes. To interpret such results, the contexts in which mobile devices were used for learning and the indicators of effectiveness adopted for evaluation are of prime importance. However, the use of those indicators in relation to the contexts of practice has not been adequately studied. This paper presents a systematic review on the use of various indicators of effectiveness for the practices of mobile and ubiquitous learning. The review covers a total of 50 cases from relevant literature for the period 2007—2016. Regarding the contexts of practice, the results show that 92% of the cases involved the use of mobile devices for accessing online or offline information; 40% involved social interaction among peers or between students and teachers; and 74% involved the apps or learning materials developed for specific courses. The indicators of effectiveness revolved around 10 categories, namely learning achievements, perceived usefulness, motivation, ease of use, satisfaction, learning attitude, cognitive load, system usage, self-efficacy, and social engagement. Results also show that studies of mobile and ubiquitous learning practices mostly focused on specific courses with less than 100 participants. Based on the findings, a number of limitations in interpreting the success of mobile learning
practices are discussed.

This study was intended to investigate the effectiveness of teaching critical thinking on students' writing performance and their critical thinking dispositions. To this end, 140 students were selected. 73 students were assigned to the experimental group and 67 were assigned to the control group. The experimental group received instruction in critical thinking strategies whereas the control group did not. The instruments used in this study were the researcher-developed essay test, the Ennis-Weir critical thinking essay test, and the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI). A 2-group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized to determine the outcome measures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent-samples ttest. Statistically significant differences were observed in the experimental and the control groups in the total scores of the three instruments. The results indicated an improvement in students' writing performance and their dispositions toward using critical thinking strategies. Nonetheless, some dispositional aspects such as truth-seeking, cognitive maturity, and open- mindedness did not differ significantly after the intervention.

Information technology plays a great role to provide the importance of sharing, exchanging knowledge for the development of people and institutions. In this respect, it is crucial to underline the significance of information technology in personal and institutional development. As information technology fosters the context of collaboration, schools have started to revamp their management practices due to these impacts. Especially, MOOCs plays a great role to improve cultural sharing, social presence as creating the manner of educational policy. In this respect, this research study evaluates the collaborative management of primary schools and their capacity in the use of information technology and MOOCs. This research study revealed that information technology fosters to use communication, interactions and exchanging knowledge in order to set mission and vision of the schools but they need to be improved through MOOCs to foster development and implementation in MOOCs.

In this study, the aim is to determine the proficiency of special education teachers in terms of using instructional technologies in the TRNC. A total of 80 special education teachers from rehabilitation institutes in Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Nicosia participated in this study in the 2016—2017 education year, of whom 45 were women and 45 were men. The quantitative research method was used and, in terms of collection tools, a demographic information form along with an opinion survey aimed at defining their usage and skill levels of special education teachers in the TRNC related to the use of instructional technologies were used. The data were analysed with the SPSS 20.00 program. Based on the results of the analysis, it was found that the level of using educational technologies was low. According to the data which was obtained from teachers' opinions, the special education teachers were in favour of using instructional technologies in their lessons. When the results of this study are considered, it can be observed that the special education teachers who have been working in the TRNC are in favour of using instructional technologies in their classes; however, they are lacking in terms of equipment and knowledge.

The technology and innovations that it has provided have begun to show their effect on education too as in all other fields of life. Benefiting from the technological innovations in the field of education in developing world will increase students' compliance to the changing life conditions. Besides that, individuals who have learnt to use technology accurately and productively during their education period will have a set of differences from other individuals in their future life thanks to technology, information and the skills that they will bring in. In this context, this research has been conducted to understand the opinions of administrators, teachers, and parents for the use of technology and to see how much the use of technology is integrated into the system in schools.

A purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the status of Open Education (OE) in Romania, with a focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) initiatives in the country. Based on the Open Education activity research in Europe, we also highlight a number of significant OE initiatives and policies which may provide effective exemplars for Romania to consider. In the last section of the article, we also propose a set of recommendations in order to facilitate the development of Open Education in the country, aiming to enable stakeholders to make more informed strategic decisions to promote MOOC integration in all forms of education. The recommendations are organized on three levels: teachers, institutions and policy makers. This work continues and updates our research and proposals related Open Education initiatives and policies in Romania (Holotescu, 2007; Holotescu, 2012; Holotescu and Pepler, 2014; Holotescu et al., 2014a; Holotescu, Andone and Grosseck, 2016).

During the last years, the worldwide education has been challenged and innovated by the online and blended learning approaches, and the openness towards Social Media (SM), Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania is one of the pioneering higher education institution in the country, adopting an open education strategy with an important impact on the quality of education. The changing engine is represented by the Center of eLearning, which implemented the Virtual Campus for supporting the academic programs, and also the Unicampus MOOC platform.

The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, to present and evaluate the Virtual Campus mobile application comparing it with mobile applications accompanying MOOC platforms. Then, to produce the requirements for an enhanced version of this application and the principles for the development of a mobile application for Unicampus.

We hope that the paper conclusions regarding quality applications for mobile learning will be useful for teachers and developers designing open and mobile learning environments and applications.

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