CHALLENGES OF WEB-BASED PARTICIPATORY LEARNING

In the last decade, the spread of the Internet has increased the importance of informal learning, since any sort of knowledge, both popular and scientific, can be found on the Internet in multifarious forms, e.g. online newspapers, books and e-books, scientific journals, blogs, forums, images, videos, etc. This paper analyses some challenges of Web-based learning, and briefly reports on an experience of computer-supported collaborative learning that is based on a social learning approach

INDUSTRY 4.0:SOCIAL CHALLENGES AND RISKS

Industry 4.0 is a term first introduced by the German government during the Hannover Messe fair in 2011 when it launched an initiative to support German industry in tackling future challenges. It refers to the 4th industrial revolution in which disruptive digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Everything (IoE), robotics, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI), are impacting industrial production.The new industrial paradigms of Industry 4.0 demand a socio-technical evolution of the human role in production systems, in which all working activities of the value chain will be performed with smart approaches.However, the automation of processes can have unpredictable effects.Nowadays, in a smart factory, the role of human operators is often only to control and supervise the automated processes. This new condition of workers brought forth a paradox: malfunctions or irregularities in the automated production process are rare but challenging.This article discusses the challenges and risks that the 4th industrial revolution is bringing to society.It introduces the concept of the Irony of Automation. This propounds that the more reliable an automated system, the less human operators have to do and, consequently, the less attention they pay to the system while it is operating.The authors go on to discuss the human-centered approach to automation, whose purpose is not necessarily to automate previously manual functions but, rather, to enhance user effectiveness and reduce errors.

LEARNING FROM THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE OF OTHERS

There is a broad consensus that the digital revolution is moving towards the reshaping of traditional professions and jobs. The key idea emerging from expert opinion is that continuing education and learning are essential to help people stay employable in the labor force, and this idea is behind most of the programs and projects co-funded by the European Union over the last decade. Experts are also persuaded that education systems should be adapted to prepare individuals for the changing labor market, and that technological advances will offer new widely available ways to access education.  From this perspective, new forms of learning that harness digital technology should be explored.Recently, we have been seeing an increasing interest from researchers in the engagement of connected people in initiatives and processes with social relevance, such as crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, and crowd sensing.  Crowd learning is a new topic whose borders are not still well-defined.This paper focuses on internet social learning and crowd learning, which appear to be closely related to two new topical fields of investigation: ubiquitous learning and smart and connected cities. It will present some preliminary results from an ongoing research on how interconnected citizen can use, share, remix, and co-construct learning and cultural resources

LIFELONG LEARNING AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP : THE CASE OF DIRECTING LIFE CHANGE PROJECT

Learning is our vehicle for change. As a learning community project, we can engage mature people to learn, initially through reflection, that they are empowered to, and can still influence, the direction of their life path. Choices including creative entrepreneurship, active citizenship through volunteering and mentoring, taking up further learning and address the emerging key societal challenge of the need for citizens to be and remain proactive. The aim of this paper is to emphasis in this process and to show how, ‘Directing Life Change’11 project empowers through direct participation, not only of other Learners, with whom relationships are fostered, but also with active participation of potential Life Change actors, locally and internationally. It also seeks to share innovation and experiences with a range of different audiences

EXPERIMENTING PARTICIPATIVE E-LEARNING IN NON-FORMAL ADULT EDUCATION: THE ESCALADE PROJECT

This paper presents the research approach designed for  EScAlADE, an EU funded project that sees the participation of five European countries and focuses on adult participative e-learning. EScAlADE aims at investigating about the educational needs of adults (range: 50-65 years) involved in e-learning programs. This paper reports on the projects methodology and on the necessity of educational strategies able to provide adult trainees with the skills required by the labor market

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN TOURISM: STUDENT TRAVEL PLANNING BY USING THE INTERNET

The increasing competitiveness in the global tourism market and the use of ubiquitous mobile connection to the Internet by young customers encourage tourism operators to invest more in e-promotion and e-resources, in order to increase their business. Accordingly, it is useful to analyse students' expectations to understand their preferences as a potential customer group.  This paper presents the first step of an ongoing investigation that focuses on the tourist preferences of university students.  We report and discuss the result of a survey conducted involving the students of Sport and Tourism management at the Akademii Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jerzego Kukuczki in Katowice.For our survey, we used “Google form tool” and “Statistica 13” software suite. The χ2 test was used for data analysis. From our research, it emerged that the preferred means of communicating is email for female students whilst telephone for male students; for both Booking.com resulted to be the most popular tourism platform

KEY ISSUES IN ADULT NON FORMAL PARTICIPATORY E-LEARNING

This paper is concerned with participatory learning, and focuses on the issues that can arise in the application of participatory approaches in e-learning-based adult non-formal education programmes. It analyses the assumptions on which participatory learning theories lie, and discusses the current portability of participatory adult learning practices to an on-line environment. Some key issues in adult non-formal participatory e-learning will be presented, taking into account the available literature and the first results of EScAlADE, an EU funded project started at the end of 2015, which focuses on adult non-formal participatory learning

INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES ON TOURISTS: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS OF MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT IN THE SILESIAN REGION

This paper presents the results of a field research on the changes that take place in student preferences regarding communication with tourism services, preferences on the ways to search for information sources about place destination and a first  inside about payment forms for tourism and hospitality services.  The study was conducted twice, in 2015 and 2018, among students of tourism management and recreation at the Kukuczki Academy of Physical Education in Katowice and the Banking Higher School in Chorzów.

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY OF SENIOR CITIZENS

The aging of the society caused increased interest in problems of the elderly. This article presents the place of seniors in the educational space, defines the selected forms of their educational activity. Education counteracts social exclusion and sense of loneliness, provides access to the amenities of the modern world, allows the seniors to satisfy their need for self-accomplishment. Seniors thus face challenges they have never confronted before, while the age of transformation forces them to engage in continuous education, which becomes not only a duty, but also an obligation. Developing the expected forms of education of the elderly is one of the most vital tasks in the years to come

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AS A CATALYST OF INNOVATIVE CHANGES IN ENTERPRISES

The subject of this research study is the applications of Information Technology (IT) to support management. This is not the sole use of IT methods and means in enterprises, however, the issues related to the automation of technological processes and software for these purposes are not the subject of these considerations. The aim of this research study is to show the innovative role of IT as a factor that enables meeting the challenges posed by managers, such as improving work efficiency, accelerating (reducing time of) handling orders, entering into competition on previously inaccessible markets, and generating the value added, which goes far beyond the capabilities of a single business entity. The business model includes collaboration unhindered by the territorial distribution of individuals, or time zone differences. The measure of effectiveness is the achieved result, and the recipient of the value thus created is not interested in where and how this value is created. Dynamically changing market expectations and the needs of recipients force the reconfiguration of the manufacturing system, which is a feature of virtual workplaces