3rd EL@RA CONFERENCE - "Technologies and Techniques to Support Sustainable Education in the Academic Sphere"

VR Dimension Towards Pedagogy 5.0 - Learning Experience Reconstruction

The third conference of the ELaRA Research Group - “Technologies and Techniques to Support Sustainable Education in the Academic Sphere”, under the European Technical University (EUt+) project, was opened by the Rector of the Technical University – Sofia, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ivan Kralov, who welcomed the initiative and congratulated the organizers, participants, and guests on the scientific event, whose focus is the discussion on the role of technologies in the educational process in the field of higher education.

The first day of the conference took place at the Center for Digital Technologies at TU – Sofia, which was a natural environment for the chosen topic of the scientific publication, part of the University’s “Science Days 24”, and the space naturally brought work comfort and coziness to the participants with the clean and stylish interior of the renovated building of Block 7, where the Center is located.

This year's edition was organized for the third time by the technical universities from Bulgaria, Ireland, and Romania, members of the European technological alliance, and was supported by Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain, Çağ University, Turkey, and for the second consecutive year, the organizers of the initiative are also world experts in the field of education and scientific research in the area of contemporary teaching and learning practices from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), represented by Dr. Ion-Hans Kocer.

The motto of the forum – “VR Dimension Towards Pedagogy 5.0 - Learning Experience Reconstruction” – attracted researchers and scholars with a professional interest in contemporary pedagogy and the role of technologies in teaching and learning, from various Bulgarian universities, including the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy in Sofia, the Medical University – Sofia, the Technical University – Varna, the National Academy of Arts – Sofia, the Military Academy “G. S. Rakovski”, independent education experts, as well as representatives of partner universities in EUt+ from Romania, Cyprus, Latvia, Ireland, and Italy.

Plenary lectures were delivered by experts in the field of digital technologies and their application in education: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Agata Manolova from the Faculty of Telecommunications and Computer Engineering at TU-Sofia, on the topic: "The Next Frontier in Education: Immersive Technologies and Holographic Communication", which generated genuine interest among the attendees, as evidenced by the dozens of comments and questions and the proposal made after Assoc. Prof. Manolova's presentation to upload the forum presentations to the conference website. Dr. Murat Gülmez delivered a presentation titled "Innovate to Impact: The Academic Role in Shaping a Sustainable Educational Future", which set the direction for discussions on the most current issues of the present and future of education. Dr. Galya Mateva introduced the audience to suggestopedia – the Bulgarian method in foreign language teaching, recognized by UNESCO and known worldwide – with her presentation "The Bulgarian Foreign Language Suggestopedia: Theoretical Highlights, a Monograph Presentation", dedicated to Assoc. Prof. Mateva's monograph "Bulgarian Foreign Language Suggestopedia", published by the Publishing House of the Technical University – Sofia in 2024. Also of great interest were the data presented and the reflections expressed on contemporary consumer attitudes shaped by digital technologies and the consumption of the internet and social media, and their impact on contemporary students and on education as a whole, in the presentation by Dr. Simone Digenaro, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy – "Education in the age of posthumanism: time for a reconstruction?".

Most of the presented papers were devoted to modern technologies and their implementation in the educational process, such as "Education and Technology for Sustainable Development" by Olubunmi Oludipe, TU-Dublin, Ireland; "Education, Sustainability and Virtual Reality" by Intesar Madi, TU-Dublin and Staff Gizem, Çağ University – Turkey; "Organisational quality and sustainability management in the field of Higher Education" by Dr. Maria Todorova, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Sofia; "The Universal VR Strategy Across Diverse Languages" by Elena Antonova, FCT, TU-Sofia; the dynamic panel under the motto: The Pedagogy Dilemma & The Future of Education, featuring Abrar Alzankawi, TU-Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Ivaylo Peev, TU-Sofia, Bulgaria, Dr. Lia Pop, UTCN – Romania, Dr. Lucia Morales, TU-Dublin, Ireland; "VR for Education Application Experimental Development", the presentation by colleagues from Romania – Robert-Valentin Aldea, Lia Pop, Iulia Stefan, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; "Virtual Reality in Education: Unlocking Potential Amidst Slow Adoption" by Radoslav Keremedchiev, TU-Sofia, and others.

At the conference, the first volume of the second book of the collection of articles and reports "Technologies and Techniques to Support Sustainable Education in the Academic Sphere. EL@RA Conference Proceedings, 2024" was also presented, which contains articles and reports from the previous conference dedicated to the new trends in pedagogy caused by changes in the era of Industry 5.0.

This year, the presentation of the participating doctoral students was exceptionally strong. They demonstrated an impressive academic level in their presentations, the result of serious preparation for participation in the conference, and showed activity in the discussions, which is actually one of the main goals of the forum: on the one hand, for young scientists and doctoral students to share their ideas and vision for contemporary education, and on the other, to communicate with their colleagues from other higher education institutions, part of the international educational map.

The organizers express their sincerest gratitude to the management of TU – Sofia and to the Research Sector for the support provided in organizing and conducting the forum, as well as to the kind hosts from the Center for Digital Technologies, without whom it would not have been possible.

You can view the program and presentations from the forum at the address: https://elara.tu-sofia.bg/