For the professional training of university students in the field of Geography, at the Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the curricula in all years of study, at the Bachelor's level, include two field trips organised by the faculty, where professors coordinate the activities. The aim of our paper is to realise proposals for improving these activities. Therefore, we chose to find out the opinions of a sample which was represented by university students in their 3 rd year of study, at all specialisations within the field of Geography (Geography, Geography of Tourism, Cartography, Hydrology-Meteorology, and Territorial Planning). We collected the data (students' answers) using an online questionnaire. They informed us about the reasons they had for taking part at the respective field trips, about the efficiency of diverse activities, about students' diverse roles during fieldwork and the usefulness for their learning and training, about what they recommended and preferred. They also realised a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the field trips they participated at. Taking into account the findings, we concluded that students considered field trips relevant for their professional training and we were able to provide a series of recommendations for improving them, based on students' opinions and suggestions.
After World War I, Transylvania became part of Romania in 1918 through what is called the Great Union. After 100 years, Alba Iulia authorities celebrated the Unification Centennial in a symbolic way by testing and implementing 100 smart digital projects. The research question is asked, Is Alba Iulia a true smart city? Methodologically, we centralized the urban regeneration and sustainable development projects, plotting them on a map using geographic information system ArcGIS 16.2 software. The results were interpreted using the arch over time method and emphasized the sustainable development tendencies of the Union City a century later. Its policies and projects make Alba Iulia a model for emergent development despite some unsolved gaps such as social inclusion of marginal communities or real urban smart functionality. Conclusively, the current poor implementation of smart applications certifies Alba Iulia’s digital city status, not as one of smart city.
Engaging university students into meaningful learning activities enables critical thinking and understanding (i.e. active learning), instead of memorising knowledge (i.e. passive learning). In this context, we researched the way students at the M.Sc. level learn, at the specialisation of Regional Planning and Development, in the Faculty of Geography, at Babeş-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The aim of the activity was to discover the best means for students to analyse urban cultural landscapes. We offered them plenty of images (i.e. aerial photos) of a series of historical urban centres in Romania (ClujNapoca, Brașov, Sibiu, Oradea, Timişoara, Bistriţa) and, while working individually, we asked them to analyse the elements of the city centre and of the urban landscape: the features of the square, its arrangement, the features and the functions of the buildings. Students were also asked to use other sources of images (e.g. Google Earth, Google Maps, etc.) to complete the task, and then they used ArcGIS (a specialised software). In the end, we provided them with an observation protocol that they had to complete with the identified urban elements. We concluded that their in-depth analysis, enabled by an observation protocol, determined students' in-depth learning of the evolution characteristic of historical urban centres.
We investigated students' literature search options when conducting research in general and online research in particular, and the sample was represented by university students in their 3 rd year at the specialization of Territorial Planning and 2 nd year M.Sc. students at Planning and Regional Development, in the Faculty of Geography, Babeş-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. These students had to conduct research on territorial planning and find solutions for territorial development in order to write their graduation paper. We identified the strengths and weaknesses of their online research methods, the causes of students' difficulties when conducting online research, and we proposed solutions for either ensuring or increasing the quality of their research results. The most significant conclusions were that, although students searched through diverse and trustful resources (e.g. websites belonging to institutions, organisations, researchers, etc.) and used searching and refining procedures, they still had problems when writing their graduation papers. The problems we identified enabled us to propose introducing a training course for writing scientific papers and graduation papers (training students through writing exercises).
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