The expansion of new digital media and the development of information technology give even bigger importance to media and information literacy, which is recognized as one of the key skills in the educational system almost everywhere in the world. The concept of media and information literacy in this paper is considered from the pedagogical aspect, i.e., the aspect of the educational needs of the teacher in learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process.The aim of this paper is to determine the level of the teachers’ interest in the application of certain digital technologies in the teaching process on the one hand, and to determine similarities and differences in their needs for learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process according to their gender and work experience, on the other hand.The conclusion is that teachers who participated in the survey showed high interest in learning and applying digital technologies in the teaching process. The use of the computer and the Internet appeared to be the biggest need teachers have. Key words: digital technologies; educational needs; information literacy; media literacy; teaching process.---SažetakEkspanzija novih digitalnih medija i napredak informacijske tehnologije uvjetuju sve veću važnost medijske i informacijske pismenosti, koja se priznaje kao jedna od ključnih vještina u obrazovnom sustavu gotovo u cijelom svijetu. Koncept medijske i informacijske pismenosti u ovom se radu promatra s pedagoškog aspekta, odnosno s aspekta obrazovnih potreba nastavnika za poznavanjem i primjenom digitalnih tehnologija u nastavnom procesu. Cilj rada jest utvrditi kolika je zainteresiranost nastavnika za primjenu pojedinih digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi, kao i utvrditi sličnosti i razlike u njihovim potrebama za upoznavanjem i primjenom digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi u odnosu na spol i radno iskustvo nastavnika. Zaključak je da su nastavnici očitovali visoku zainteresiranost za upoznavanje i primjenu digitalnih tehnologija u nastavi. Kao najveća potreba nastavnika pokazala se primjena računala i interneta.Ključne riječi: digitalne tehnologije; obrazovne potrebe; informacijska pismenost; medijska pismenost; nastavni proces.

Currently, during the pandemic, the forced transition to distance learning carries a number of problems. These problems affect various aspects of education, including the study of students’ attitudes to distance learning. The purpose of this research is to study the features of the subjective attitude of schoolchildren and students to distance learning. This research involved 140 secondary school students (average age M = 10.7, SD = 7.2 (66.3% men)) and 30 university students (average age M = 22.5, SD = 2.4 (20% men)). The methods used were a questionnaire, Chi-square test and Criterion φ*. Fisher angular transformation. The study showed that schoolchildren do not intend to continue studying in the distance form if they choose, with a generally positive attitude towards distance learning. The self-assessment of motivation to study in a distance format has not changed, both among schoolchildren and students. Students are more likely to have a positive attitude to distance learning than schoolchildren. The variety of choices of advantages and disadvantages of distance learning is greater among students than among schoolchildren. The perspective of this study is thus to study the factors that determine the positive and negative attitudes to distance learning.

The digital educational environment is not new in the modern world, but in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to online learning has become necessary and fast. This offered the possibility to study various characteristics of objects and subjects in the digital educational environment. During the pandemic, universities worldwide were forced to switch to online learning, creating a global educational experiment with results to be comprehended and theoretically reflected upon. The significance of this scientific reflection is important for understanding the characteristics and factors that influence student satisfaction with online learning, as well as for anticipating possible ways to improve its effectiveness. This research aimed to study the characteristics of satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in connection with the elements of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) online learning model. The study involved 808 students (M = 22.5, SD = 2.4 (53.3% men)) from 6 countries (Serbia—30.8%, Bosnia and Herzegovina—8.5%, Croatia—8.9%, Romania—21.8%, Russia—25.2%, Slovenija—4.7%). A total of 808 students responded to a questionnaire measuring the levels of cognitive, social, and teaching presence in distance learning. Satisfaction with online learning has been shown to positively correlate with cognitive, social and teaching presence, and overall CoI presence. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that satisfaction with online learning does not differ among students with different levels of academic performance; however, the subjective assessment of the element of social presence “Tools and platforms for online learning allow students to work with each other” is significantly higher among students with low academic performance. Satisfaction with online learning and the elements of the CoI model is different in study groups with varying degrees of online learning presence, as well as different in students whose training included different elements of online learning. The conclusions obtained in this study will make it possible to organize the digital educational environment more effectively by managing the elements of the CoI model.

This paper presents a study of online teaching in higher education during the 2021/2022 school year, during the Covid 19 pandemic. The theoretical foundation of this research is Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, according to which online teaching is realized through social presence (students’ interaction), teaching presence (student-teacher interaction) and cognitive presence (student-content interaction). This quantitative research was conducted in six countries: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Romania and Russia, and the answers were received from 808 students. At all participating faculties, online teaching was applied during the observed period, and in almost 80% of cases it was realized in full or to a greater extent than in in-person classes. The aim was to determine CoI presences and to identify possible differences among countries. The obtained data was processed with quantitative descriptive analysis and Kruskal–Wallis H test. The highest values of CoI presence were noted in Russia and Romania, then Slovenia and Croatia, and the lowest in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. In the whole sample, teaching presence has been most represented, followed by social presence, while the cognitive presence has been scored the least. Entire CoI presence was assessed as partially represented, as well as its three elements, the lowest of which is cognitive presence. In order to improve the online teaching process, in this paper technological and pedagogical training of teachers for online teaching, support for students for the use of digital tools for online learning and the provision of IT experts as necessary technical support are recommended.

The thinking of a manager is conditioned by their motivational features which determine their personal professional success and the effectiveness of the organization’s activities. In this study, we assumed that two groups of sales and advertising managers had differences in the relationships between thinking style and their motivational qualities, as well as their individual need for achievement. We used the following sources: The methodology of A. Belousova for the diagnosis of thinking styles, the “scale of control over action” by J. Kuhl, and “the need for achievement” by Yu.A. Orlov. The selection consisted of 61 people, 25 to 30 years of age, of which 41 were men and 20 were women, from organizations engaged in the sale of a technical group of goods (also known as Group A) and advertising services (also known as Group B), in Rostov-on-Don. The Spearman rank correlation method was used for quantitative data processing. In group Group A, the analysis showed the presence of statistically significant connections. A critical style of thinking has a significant relationship with the level of clarity about the need for achievements and practical thinking is statistically significantly interrelated with control over action in a situation of failure. Whereas, in Group B, an initiative, managerial, and practical style of thinking has a significant correlation with the need for achievement.

The results of psychometric analysis of the new technique of thinking styles diagnostics are presented. The fundamental principles of thinking style concept by A. Belousova, according to which the thinking style is determined by the dominance of a person’s function in the structure of thinking activity during the problem solving, are covered. In accordance with A. Belousova’s ideas that the collaborative thinking activity as a self-organizing system is carried out by means of functions assumed by each participant: function of generating ideas, the function of selection (review and evaluation of information), functions of sense transfer and function of implementation. Thinking of adult, acting as a complex self-organizing system, combines the same functions: generation, selection, sense transfer and implementation. In this connection, we believe that the thinking style is defined as a characteristic set of functions actualized by a person in different situations of the problem solving. Domination of generation function determines the development of initiative thinking style, selection - critical, sense transfer - administrative, implementation - practical. The results of testing the reliability and validity of a new questionnaire for the thinking style diagnostics on a representative sample of Russians are given. The author’s version of the questionnaire is presented.