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4.3 NATIONAL TRENDS IN DIGITAL PEDAGOGY, DIGITAL
LITERACY AND USE OF DIGITAL RESOURCES – THE CASE

OF ROMANIA

Regarding the intersection between the digital and the pedagogical dimension in digi-
talized teaching, the Romanian research has shown that all interviewed expert teach-
ers were already familiar with some of the online tools and applications and they did
use them in certain contexts before the pandemic. (some in classes where they
worked with interactive boards, some in corporate training programmes, usually to
boost the interactivity of the course).

Interviews show that the attitude of the teachers was more fluid and open minded and
they explained how being an educator is no longer limited to the traditional role of the
teacher but it needs to involve emotional intelligence skills as well. Most of the teach-
ers explained that the emphasis is placed on what is being received/ perceived by stu-
dents, rather than on what is being delivered and we think this made a major differ-
ence in how expert teachers embraced the start of the online teaching as they had a
much easier transition. They also insisted on the active role of the learner, rather than
of the educator.

In this context, the perspective changes a lot because the focus of the research with
the expert teachers shifted from the digital aspects of teaching to the emotional intel-
ligence in teaching, the creativity and the idea of sensing or knowing when it’s the
good moment to use a certain method, when and how to adapt it to the learners tak-
ing into consideration learner’s level or age.

The expert teachers highlighted that in this new pandemic context, the educator’s role
is to guide the learner in order to evaluate information, to permanently assess stu-
dents’ capability to process the taught content in this online environment. They also
mentioned the importance of role reversal with their students with very good tech-
nology skills.
To better explain the role reversal in the digital age we need to add that expert teach-
ers observed that young adult learners, being digital natives, can become their own
educators because they are often more familiar with technology.

4.3.1 DIGITAL RESOURCES TO MATCH LEARNERS´ PREREQUISITES
The Romanian research showed that some of the key abilities expert teachers showed
in identifying the relevant digital resources for their learners' needs are a good plan-
ning ability which is actually a pedagogical skill, creativity, time management skills and
an appropriate mind set.

GOOD PLANNING ABILITY
A good planning ability will always help teachers identify more easily when and how to
use an app in online teaching, how to adapt their use to the students digital skill with