BABES BOLYAI UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education
Sindicatelor no. 7, 400029, Cluj-Napoca
Tel: 0264 405337 Fax: 0264 590559
E-mail: psiedu@psiedu.ubbcluj.ro
Ph.D. School „Education, Development, Cognition”
SYLLABUS
Doctorate program in Education « Educaţie, dezvoltare, cogniţie »
Course
Hrs. course
Hrs. seminar
Course coordinator
Developments in
2 per week
1 per week
Contemporary Pedagogy
14 weeks
14 weeks
Prof. Vasile Chiş, Ph.D
Credits
15
Contact information: Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education
Sindicatelor 7, Cluj Napoca, Romania
Email: vasichi@psiedu.ubbcluj.ro: vasilechisu@yahoo.com
Tel. +407-403-12574
Course Title: Developments in Contemporary Pedagogy
Course description
The structure of course includes six articulated topics. These topics offer to the students a
comprehensive view regarding the main tendencies in contemporary pedagogy as well as in the
field of education. The topics are organized as follows:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
From the Pedagogy for Knowledge to the Pedagogy for Competencies
Contemporary Educational Systems – Management and Processes
Learning in Schools. Competences Based Learning
Teaching Competences and Competences Development
The New Curriculum – A Curriculum for Competences
Gaps in Educational Systems
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Course Objectives
 To critically analyze the components, the concepts and the applications in the field
of contemporary pedagogy.
 To identify and to analyze the mechanisms and strategies used in designing,
management and evaluation of contemporary educational systems
 To be able to apply the pedagogical concepts in an inter- and trans-disciplinary
approach.
 To elaborate personal analyses and syntheses by using the knowledge in the field of
pedagogy.
 To elaborate analyses referring to the efficiency of using different teaching-learning
strategies, to compare various strategies and to identify “good practice”.
 To represent with adequate cognitive models the modalities of optimizing the
organizing of knowledge on different levels of structure
 To identify the articulations and disconcertion within the contemporary educational
systems and to plan optimizing actions
 To use multiple teaching strategies and adequate contextualised learning strategies
 To analyse, to plan and to follow the personal learning route
 To evaluate and to optimise personal performance in learning
 To communicate, to negotiate and to plan team learning activities.
ACQUIRED COMPETENCES
 Competences of pedagogical analysis and synthesis
 Practical competences to realise instruments and planning and assessment methodologies
 Competences of self and inter- assessment
 Competences in team-work
 Competences of planning learning and teaching
 Competences of planning personal and professional development
 Competences of communication, negotiation and team-work.
I. Required bibliography:
Bocoş, M. (2007), Didactica disciplinelor pedagogice. Un cadru constructivist, Editura Presa
Universitară Clujeană, Cluj-Napoca.
Carmen, Creţu, (2001), Teoria curriculum-ului şi conţinuturile educaţionale, Editura Universităţii
“Al.I.Cuza, Iaşi.
Chiş, V. (2001) Activitatea profesorului între curriculum şi evaluare, Editura PUC, Cluj-Napoca.
Chiş, V. (2002), Provocările pedagogiei contemporane, Editura Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj
Napoca.
Chiş, V. (2005), Pedagogia contemporană - Pedagogia pentru competenţe, Editura Casa Cărţii de
Ştiinţă, Cluj-Napoca.
Ionescu, M., Radu, I. (coord.) (2001), Didactica modernă, ediţia a II-a, revizuită, Editura Dacia, ClujNapoca.
Ionescu, M. (2003), Instrucţie şi educaţie, Garamond, Cluj-Napoca.
Marga, A., (2007) Anii reformei (1997-2000), [Years of the Reform ], second edition, EFES, Cluj-Napoca.
Marga, A., (2005), University Reform Today, Cluj University Press, Cluj Napoca.
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Mark K. Smith (2004), Competence and competency, În: “Encyclopaedia of informal education”, În:
www.infed.org.
Nicolescu, B. (1999), Transdisciplinaritatea. Manifest, Editura Polirom.
Nicolescu, B. (2002), Noi, particula şi lumea, Editura Polirom.
PISA, OECD, Programme for International Student Assessment, În: http://www.pisa.oecd.org/faq
Potolea, D, Păun, E., (coord., 2002), Pedagogie, Polirom, Iaşi.
Sistemul de educaţie şi formare profesională din România. Diagrama sistemului de educaţie, (2005), În:
http://www.cnrop.ise.ro/sef.htm.
The education System in the Netherlands, NUFFIC, Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in
Higher Education, În: http://www.nuffic.nl/dc/esln/pdf (2005).
Vlăsceanu, L., coord. (2002), Şcoala la răscruce. Schimbare şi continuitate în curriculumul învăţământului
obligatoriu. Studiu de impact, Editura Polirom, Iaşi.
www.thersa.org/newcurriculum
Opening Minds: The New Curriculum web pages
Network Curriculum Forum
Developing a Capable Population Forum
Consiliul National pentru Curriculum (www.cnc.ise.ro)
Ministerul Educatiei si Cercetarii (www.edu.ro)
Notice: Students are free to use any similar references written in their native language or in other
languages.
COURSE OUTLINE









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Interactive lectures
Learning through cooperation
Group activities
Debates
Case studies
Development of projects, presentation and assessment in group
Presentation of conclusions, aspects of the developed project and discussions
Development of projects
Application of questionnaires and practical exercises
Analysis/ Evaluation of existing materials on relevant educational web-sites.
COURSE FORMAT:
Courses – interactive lectures, debates, case studies, tests to realize on-going assessment of
knowledge
Seminars: individual study, development of projects, debated in large groups
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Allocation of time/ activity: independent work, development of projects: aprox. 50 -60 minutes/
session, debates in large groups: aprox. 40 minutes/ session; interactive lectures: aprox. 30
minutes/ session; evaluation and synthesis: aprox. 30 min/ session.
COURSE MATERIALS AND MEANS: Course Syllabus, for debate or work, printed or electronic
format, list of selected resources, multimedia means of presentation, powerpoint presentation,
computer, video projector (supplied by faculty), e/ group / on yahoo groups, materials and
information posted on the e/group dedicated to specific activities of the seminars and projects.
LOCATION: course + seminar hall, capacity of 20 students.
COURSE SCHEDULE/ SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS AND ASSESSMENTS


C1 – Introductory course.
The structure of the course is presented, content, objectives, requirements, forms of final
evaluation and other details asked by the PhD students. Resources, study requirements,
projects and the content of the portfolio are also discussed.
C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 – Interactive lectures, themes I, II, III and IV:
1. Traditional pedagogy and Modern Pedagogy
2. Tendencies in the new pedagogy
3. Transdiciplinary approaches in education
4. Education in the 3rd millenium
5. Educational systems organised hierarchically
6. Educational systems organised in networks
7. Deep and surface learning
8. Construction of knowledge and modification of concepts
9. Learning and technologies
10. The challenges of the teaching profession
11. competences involved in teaching
12. Teaching and organizing the learning experiences.
In the sequence of the C1 – C6 courses, S1 – S3 seminars will be included, as follows:
S1 – Introductory seminar. To define the specific learning objectives. Discussions with the
PhD students about the specific learning objectives, according to their needs with the aim
of preparing research and the doctoral thesis. The PhD students will write down the list of
learning objectives, the basis to define and select seminar themes and the modalities of
achieving will be negotiated. Each PhD student will prepare in detail and will moderate a
theme for debate.
 S2 and S3 – Presentation and debate in the group of PhD students of 2-4 themes per
seminar, according to the thematic area. The themes will be prepared individually or in
small groups and will be presented with the aid of posters, ppt slides, concise descriptions,
case studies etc.
 C7, C8, C9, C10. Condensed synthesis, 15 min./ course at the V and VI themes, followed
by individual activities, activities in groups, short workshops, debates and frontal
evaluations.
In the sequence of C7 – C10 courses the S4 – S6 seminars will be included. .
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
S4, S5, S6. Presentation and debate in the group of PhD students of 2- 4 themes per
seminar, according to the thematic area. The themes will be prepared individually or in
small groups and will be presented with the aid of posters, ppt slides, concise descriptions,
case studies etc.

C11, C12: Interactive activity of reviewing, thematic analysis and synthesis, in the view of
finalizing projects and portfolios.
C13, C14 and S7: Formative evaluation: presentation and debate of individual projects
and portfolios.

OBLIGATIONS OF STUDENTS FOR THE COURSE AND SEMINARS
 Participation to the exchange of messages on the e/group
 Accessing and reading the course and seminar materials, but also of
the available resources
 Realising step by step the portfolio used in seminar/ course and the
presentation of the final portfolio.
 To cover bibliography, to enrich bibliography
 To develop a project (10 / 15 pages) and its presentation to the group of
PhD students for debate
 To identify, to elaborate case /studies for presentation and debate in the
group of PhD students.
EVALUATION


Seminar/ course portfolio, sequentially realized (evaluation of progress) and final
assessment (summative evaluation).
Evaluation during interactive and group activities, during debates, workshops etc.
The degree (satisfactory, good and very good) is based on the composite evaluation of three
criteria:
- Quality and complexity of interventions and individual presentation at courses and
seminars.
- Quality and complexity of final portfolio.
- Quality and complexity of the elaborated project and the accuracy in presentation.
ORGANIZATORY DETAILS, ADIMINISTRATION OF LEARNING SITUATIONS
Attendance: a minimum number of attendances to the course and seminars is proposed and
negotiated with the PhD students, attendance that is conditioning the access to the final evaluation
as follows:
- between 8 – 10 presences from the total of 14 courses
- between 4 - 5 presences form the total of 7 seminars.
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Possibilities to recuperate: - possibilities to recuperate are not available. In this case the PhD
students must recuperate entirely the activities in the following year, with the approval of doctorate
coordinators and the Institute of Doctoral studies.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The additional resources are decided by each PhD student, with the support of course coordinator
and doctorate coordinators, according to the specific learning needs.
Cluj – Napoca
18 October 2009
Prof. univ. dr. Vasile Chiş
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