This large cross-national study investigates the development of transversal skills in the context of open schooling—an educational approach integrating schools, universities, and communities to address real-world challenges—through the CARE-KNOW-DO framework. Utilising a mixed-methods approach across five countries, this research employs a novel validated self-report instrument to evaluate the perceptions of 12,074 underserved students concerning their learning experiences in open schooling environments. An exploratory factor analysis enabled us to explore quantitative insight into students’ skill development, while thematic analysis of 20 teachers’ reports contributed qualitative depth. The study identified six critical transversal skills: self-initiative, problem-solving, emotional engagement, scientific citizenship, authentic learning, and future prospects. Significant geographic, gender, and age-related variations were found, with notable disparities in skill perceptions among nonbinary students, indicating the need for more inclusive educational support. All countries showed high levels of perceived transversal skills, with 83% of Greek and 80% of Brazilian students leading, compared to 64% in Romania and the UK, and 62% in Spain. Trends suggest secondary students exhibit stronger global citizenship and authentic learning, although they report less confidence in problem-solving and self-initiative than their primary counterparts. These findings, viewed alongside 12 teaching competencies revealed through thematic analysis, underscore the effectiveness of open schooling, which is underexplored, in fostering key skills and call for pedagogical innovations that integrate real-life issues into the curriculum. The study contributes to Agenda 2030—quality of education by demonstrating the real-world applicability of the CARE-KNOW-DO framework for educational practice and policy towards equity and sustainability. Our comparative analysis of transversal skill development across diverse student populations, as well as teaching competencies, further advances the discourse on improving 21st-century education.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) have evolved in time, influenced by technological and organizational developments. The scientists’ interest for DSS has increased over the years and the use of this type of systems has spread in all domains of activity. The paper presents the results of a literature search, made in September 2013, regarding the Decision Support Systems evolution as it is reflected in three scientific databases (ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore Digital Library and ACM Digital Library). The aim of this research is to present the evolution in time of the published DSS research materials and to test the usefulness and relevance, for the topic searched, of the information provided by the above mentioned databases.

Although videoconferencing platforms were a growing market even before the Covid-19 pandemic, they became very popular and widely used within weeks of the beginning of the pandemic. The compulsion of social distancing, lockdown, the need to work from home have led to an exponential demand for videoconferencing applications and an adaptation of the way we carry out our current activities such as work, decision-making, communicating with family and colleagues, or education. With the diversification of the categories of users of videoconferencing systems and the contexts in which they were used, many other needs have emerged and the demand to adapt these platforms, both in terms of ease of use and functionality, as well as security. Videoconferencing systems are no longer meant only for decision-makers or trainers, but also for general public. This paper reviews various data regarding the use of videoconferencing systems in recent years, a number of problems encountered by users, and expected trends in the future.

At present, virtual world environments have a huge potential on changing the manner in which people can interact, navigate on Internet, and make business. Due to the fact that the virtual world environments become more pervasive, it is important for the researchers to be deeply involved in the understanding of those spaces. The paper describes the main aspects met by tutors and students on working in the Second Life environment, during the on-line course “Designing Technology-Enhanced Learning”, organized in the frame of the European LLP-KA3 project: “Enabling Creative Collaboration through Supportive Technologies” (code 511733-LLP-1-2010-1-FI-KA3-KA3MP). Second Life was chosen due to the fact that provides a strong collaborative environment equipped with modern features: voice interactions, chat and instant messenger, expanding the ways of communication and the possibilities for collaboration. For many Romanian students who participated to the course, it was a unique experience - they were involved in the collaborative work, together with their colleagues from Finland, Estonia and Norway, but also engaged in learning processes that enhanced creative collaboration

The advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT) provide significant opportunities to improve teaching and learning. The use of ICT in science education offers even more advantages due to the attractive premises to simulate and interactively explore and test experiments which would be too expensive or too dangerous in real settings (for example in nuclear physics). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the research field of technology based learning by presenting several findings obtained during a multinational educational project (Comenius) regarding the use of computer in classroom, in science education, in Romania, Spain, Poland, Greece and Finland

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.