Developing ICT skills for communication studies students, in a technology dense environment. A Romanian experience

Mariana Cernicova-Buca, PhD

Context: competence-based description of university programs Competence-based curriculum design: European Area of

Higher Education Development of the National Registry of Qualifications in HE

(RNCIS) NTIC – part of curriculum design across programs Of particular importance to recent educational reforms are the learner

characteristics of developing graduate attributes/21st Century skills, such as critical thinking, teamwork, communication, inter-cultural understanding and creativity. A related skill is the development of critical reflection on life and work with digital technologies – often referred to as digital literacies – and the wider range of digital responses that learners can produce in today’s world, such as creating a presentation, a website or a movie, rather than simply writing text for an essay.

(The Larnaca Declaration on Learning Design – 2013)

Research question

How do different subject matters concur to shaping the competencies within a study program? (in communication studies)

How are competencies made visible in syllabuses and teaching practices?

In a given study program, is the learning design correlated with the requirements on the labour market?

Method

Content analysis of syllabuses attached to a study program

Evaluation of the degree to which different disciplines in a study programme aim or declare to develop digital competence

DataTable 1: Frequencies of competencies in the curriculum

Responses Percent

of Cases N Percent

Type of discipline 8 9.8% 17.8%C1. Identification and use of terminology, methods and knowledge in communication sciences

17 20.7% 37.8%

C2. Use of new technologies in information and communication (NTIC) 6 7.3% 13.3%C3.Identification and use of appropriate strategies, methods and communication techniques in PR processes

15 18.3% 33.3%

C4. Creation and promotion of a PR product 14 17.1% 31.1%C5. Specialized assistance in crisis communication and in mediating communication conflicts

10 12.2% 22.2%

C6. Professional and institutional communication for evaluating the efficiency of communication in foreign languages (English, French, German)

8 9.8% 17.8%

C7. Cultural and linguistic mediation in foreign languages (English, French, German)

4 4.9% 8.9%

Total 82 100.0%

182.2%

Data (spread along semesters)

NTIC and communication studies Students: use computers for learning (83.3%), smart phones (45.8%) and tablets (27.7%); (often) present their work with the help of mobile devices, giving preference to these over traditional portofolios or printed files

Professors in the classroom environment: use of NTIC (computers and tablets in the teaching process) less than 50% of the time

Practice analysis in PR: mastering NTIC in the top of the necessary competencies

Use of information technology in an efficient manner – managing information, distribution channels and establishing a technological language (Sha, 2010)

Consequences of analysis

A lack of correlation among disciplines to shape competencies is evident

Program design – a matter of developing competencies in the academia

Reflections on educational practice

ImplicationsThe study - basis for discussing, modernizing and updating the syllabuses and for an improved curriculum design. In educational practice – example of exercise to underpin development and changeIn educational research – opening the discussion regarding balance, coherence, coordination across the curriculum, not only in communication sciences Further research - refining tools for analysis of the curriculum in the given area and in Romania, but also in Europe and all over the worldFurther practice – steering the process of enhancing the digital component and competencies in communication sciences programmes.

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