This paper introduces the analyses of Open Education experiences and strategies in the six universities part of the Ent-r-e-novators E3UDRES2 European Universities Alliance. It is part of a study performed in 2023, for 6 months, and includes a SWOT analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses and overall adequacy of open education tools, resources and training against the needs of the E3UDRES2 alliance, which is comprised entirely of technical universities. Based on these findings, the partnership shows diversity in its commitment to Open Education (OE), with some universities actively participating in Open Education initiatives. The Open Education policies, activities, training and resources are not integrated in the universities (with one exception) and we indicate a mixed level of awareness and utilization of tools/resources/practices for OE. While some universities have a higher level of awareness and use of OE, others show uncertainty or limited knowledge; there is however a preference for using open-source software, and the adoption of OERs (open educational resources) varies in terms of barriers and satisfaction among faculty and staff. In summary, the responses from the universities align with the general landscape of Open Education policies and practices in Europe and worldwide.

Closely related to the resonating innovation cycles, the European Universities Project E3UDRES2establishes I-Living-Labs for future universities and smart and sustainable regions. The “I” stands for inspiring, innovative, intercultural, international, interdisciplinary, intersectorial, inclusive and intense. The paper presents the methodology and experiences on running the first i-Living-Labs in an international setting, sharing resources, teachers and students among 6 different universities, and performing projects in areas from Circular Economy, Human Contribution to Artificial Intelligence, Wellbeing & Active Ageing. It introduces the structures of Living Labs, and Design Thinking, Co-creation, experimentation methodologies, the Agile process and experiences of running the first international i-Living-Labs. In these I-Living-Labs, various types of learners, ranging from students to external stakeholders and educational entrepreneurs, are challenged to co-ideate and co-create innovative smart and sustainable solutions to local challenges. They do this in international transdisciplinary teams, bringing international knowledge into their communities.

This paper investigates the experiences of integrating the analyses of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in traditional education as an open book method for exam, during pandemic times. Since 2013 we have developed models and structures to include MOOCs in campus based, traditional education. A case study on integrating the analysis of MOOCs and of different digital tools in exams at Master level is presented and discussed based on questionnaires, reports, and live discussions with students. We proposed an asynchronous open book exam method to be integrated within Master Courses, delivered online during beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year. The paper analyses the students’ interaction with MOOCs and different digital tools and discusses topics such as students experience, activities for career and skills development, and the creation of digital resources.

The shortage of digital skills in Europe ignited the development of the DigiCulture project, as to develop 13 different course modules all dedicated for training in digital competence for young adults in creative industries. The courses are planned, developend to be hostes in UniCampus, online learning environment started in 2014, as a MOOC-like Massive Open Online Courses. The DigiCulture project develops free, online short courses dedicated to adults with low digital skills. As there are big differences between the countries that are partners in DigiCulture, we propose an integrated approach for course development, but with national personalization as language, study cases. The implementation, course scenario are presented in this paper.

Developing new methods of learning about culture and heritage, dedicated to the new millennial generation can be a challenge. The project "Jecza Museum - the Sculpture collection" created a complex virtual identity of technology, art and culture education, by digitizing images of 100 sculpture works, adapting principles of open data and art archiving metadata, combing it with digital storytelling of artworks and virtual museum tours. This paper presents this development, the digital learning paths created and their evaluation. It identifies methods of creating art approachable for the young generation and validates the far-reaching impact of open digital storytelling.

Open educational resources (OERs) have been around for around 20 years and their use has not fully reached its true potential, according to education specialists. This paper presents the results of a study of creating Open Educational Resources together with students, with the purpose of reusing them in future iterations of Higher Education programs. The students have to become co-creators of learning content, as part of their year assignment in several Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) programs, both at bachelor and master levels. Our study seeks to identify if creating original OERs as multimedia artifacts will facilitate students' understanding of open education principles and apply them in the future. We tested several approaches on how to realize this assignment, individual or in pairs, one OER per team or several OERs, and we applied connectivism theory as to validate our results. The results of our study indicate that by exposing students to open education, encouraging them to become OER co-creators and allowing them to connect in multiple ways, improves their digital lifelong learning abilities and inspires them to use open education principles or resources in their quest for knowledge.

UniCampus, online learning environment started in 2014, as an attempt to provide the first Romanian language MOOC-like Massive Open Online Courses. For the development of the DigiCulture project we decided to extend the existing UniCampus platform with a new DigiCulture theme. This paper presents the technical development, based on the Moodle framework, with new user interactions. The DigiCulture project develops free, online short courses dedicated to adults with low digital skills. The shortage of digital skills in Europe reported in 2016 in “European Digital Progress Report EDPR” of the European Commission: 45% of Europeans have insufficient or no digital skills. As there are big differences between the countries that are partners in DigiCulture, we propose an integrated approach for course development, but with national personalization as language, study cases. These implementation and personalization are presented in this paper.

The global economy with technological developments, mobility incrementation and new financial and working models affects the higher education at its core. Not only the education system, policies, or delivery models are influenced, but also students' and staff mobility. A new era of online and mobile learning, of massive open online courses (MOOCs), created virtual mobilities or internships. Virtual Mobility (VM) has a great potential to contribute to the internationalization, innovation and inclusion in higher education. This paper presents the development of the Open Virtual Mobility Learning Hub, a European-funded project, as an integration of several interactive technologies in an open source learning environment based on Moodle. The Open Virtual Mobility Learning Hub is a collaborative online and mobile environment for promoting and assessing VM Skills of educators and students in the European Higher Education Area. The OpenVM Learning Hub includes several interactive tools in components, services and technologies. This paper analyses different open-source software and tools, essential for the OpenVM Learning hub, as its development is based on open education principles.

Virtual reality engages participants through immersive experiences of imaginary or real three-dimensional physical environments. The combination of globalization and technology is transforming the international economy, altering the demand for skills and knowledge required from today's university graduates. To improve students' skills we have developed in the last ten years the TalkTech project, as an open virtual mobility, a project based learning with the aim of creating a multimedia artefact. The 2017 study examines how students, working to create virtual reality artefacts, also develop digital skills and critical thinking. The paper also examines how participating in open virtual mobility project enables an online multicultural educational environment that changes the students' abilities to learn and acquire knowledge. In this collaborative study, students create virtual reality artefacts using CoSpaces, a web-based virtual reality development platform, share them with their international but also local partners, and discuss similarities and differences in their work. The findings indicate that by real-time mixing of different tools and online and mobile technologies and apps students' digital skills are improved.

Society expects from the educational system to provide a new type of worker able to learn independently, online for their entire life - the new open life long learning student, but the traditional higher education is not equipped for this. Recently one possible solution was the development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). While in Europe the MOOCs development are still behind the North American ones, in Romania they are non-existent. Started in 2014 the development of Romanian MOOC - UniCampus - by the Politehnica University of Timisoara is now running its first courses. This paper presents a course in Trends in Open Education, Tools and Technologies, developed by a group of professors with limited experience in online education, from its initial development phases to its first pilot. The course evaluation shows that shorter videos, short essay answers are preferred by students, multiple choice test are recommended after each course unit or video and they considered the UniCampus environment as familiar and easy to use (being based on Moodle, the platform most of students used also during their degree).

Current research proves that using a virtual campus as a learning management system (LMS) can increase the students' sense of community and enhance student performance, all the while LMSs have become a main component of how traditional teaching universities interact online with their students. We developed our university virtual campus CVUPT continuously since 2008, based on new technological developments but also on new Open Education Tools. Since our university is a research-oriented university, we used data to inform and guide an LMS review and strategic development process. This paper analyzes the use of this Moodle based virtual campus by a traditional university and how the implementation of different Web 2.0 technologies as open education tools have affected students-teacher interaction.

This paper describes the research results of a training needs analysis for university academia in 12 universities, within the aim of designing a training course for improving the use of ICT in 12 universities. The results indicates that even if some tools are widely used in universities, they are not fully implemented in delivering education and there is also a digital divide between the different academia generations.

This paper is a brief presentation of augmented reality solutions. Augmented reality is nowadays used in various domains with incipient but spectacular results. We question the implementation of augmented reality applications for smartphones designed to help students retrieve contextual information and navigate inside campuses and buildings. We present the research methodology and the expected contributions and results.

This paper describes the experience of using several web 2.0 tools as part of academic assessment for teaching students in engineering at Master of Science level in "Politehnica" University of Timisoara Virtual Campus. The students used blogs, wikis and several other open source tools as part of their academic assessments, for a semester. They reported this as a positive experience and we believe that integrating some web 2.0 technologies in the academic activity facilitated innovative explorations, experimentation and profound thinking and analyse from students.

This paper describes the results of piloting an online - mobile phone environment -ViCaDiS - Virtual Campus for Digital Students, as a co-operation between 6 universities from European Union to develop a common online learning environment enhanced with Web 2.0 tools for supporting the online international co-operation at academic level. Digital students are young adults who have grown up with digital technologies integrated as an everyday feature of their lives. It presents the evaluation of this new learning environment for digital students.

In recent years the higher education system in Romania has been through a series of transformations. These transformations reflects European tendencies but also the growth of the Romanian economy. The changes affect also distance education, which is the actual form of delivering several specializations, as off-campus solutions. The "Politehnica" University of Timisoara is at the avant-garde of these changes and promotes innovation in education. E-learning is seen as a further step in high-education delivery. But are the prospective students and the universities ready to take the challenge? And is it e-learning going to be a viable model for an International Masters degree in Multimedia? A study, which focuses on the historic and economic development, legislation, and ICT penetration, was conducted recently in order to answer these questions.