My Ph.D. research is linked to the instructional development for higher education teachers area, including academics' conceptions about learning and teaching as well as their teaching approaches to uncover their impact on students' learning outcomes. Also, my ongoing research interests relate to various educational topics such as curriculum and instruction and advanced quantitative statistical techniques (e.g., network analysis, latent growth analysis, multilevel modeling, etc.).
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Social Sciences, Education
9
Scopus Publications
395
Scholar Citations
7
Scholar h-index
7
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Dynamics of change of academics’ teaching approaches: A latent profile transition analysis Marian D. Ilie, Peter Van Petegem, Velibor Mladenovici, Laurenţiu P. Maricuţoiu Studies in Educational Evaluation, 2024 Current studies highlighted a positive relationship between academics' learning-focused approaches to teaching and students' active and deep learning. Thus, scholars have an ongoing debate about the dynamics of change from academics’ content-focused to learning-focused approaches to teaching. Previous studies investigating this subject used variable-centered analyses (on cross-sectional or pre-post data) or person-centered analyses only on cross-sectional data. Such research approaches presented limited information about the dynamics of change in teaching approaches of naturally occurring subgroups of academics with multiple teaching approach characteristics. This study analyzed the issue using longitudinal data collected on three moments (N = 111 Romanian academics) and a person-centered approach (i.e., latent profile transition analysis). We identified three dissonant approaches to teaching and one learning-focused. Our results suggested that the process of change in approaches to teaching seems to be slow and, sometimes, discontinuous. The transition from the most dissonant approach to the learning-focused approach could occur directly or by intermediary steps described as less dissonant. These dynamics of change are similar across various subsamples defined by the academics’ teaching context, specialization, gender, teaching experience, and pedagogical training programs followed. We advanced several implications for designing pedagogical programs for academics and future research.
The Quest for More Caring and Humanity in Digital Assessment Gabriela Domilescu, Velibor Mladenovici Lecture Notes in Educational Technology, 2024 During the COVID pandemic, it became clear that understanding assessment in terms of cognitive processes has plenty of limitations. The emerging artificial intelligence technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity) made it even more apparent, bringing more ethical dilemmas and showing more weaknesses in the higher educational systems. Online education is a new reality, and academic staff should rethink how they approach teaching, assessment, and learning in the digital environment. We can no longer respond to new educational challenges with the same traditional approaches and mindsets. In post-pandemic higher education, besides focusing on ethical dilemmas and cognitive processes, it would be worth reflecting on the impact of personal and social implications of what learners are learning, their feelings, interests, and values, and ways to empower students to become more self-directed learners. Based on Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning, this chapter will provide an integrative framework of digital assessment techniques to stimulate student motivation and academic performance. Our conceptual work will bring empirical evidence to facilitate the successful implementation and integration of digital assessment in higher education, emphasizing the human dimension of higher education.
A cross-lagged panel model analysis between academics’ conceptions of teaching and their teaching approaches Velibor Mladenovici, Marian D. Ilie Studies in Higher Education, 2023 Academics’ conceptions of teaching (ACTs) and academics’ teaching approaches (ATAs) are essential factors in informing academics’ teaching behaviors. However, empirical evidence from longitudinal research exploring the causal link between ACTs and ATAs is lacking. In the current study, we employed a cross-lagged panel model approach in three waves to assess four hypotheses (i.e. stability, causal, reversed, and reciprocal models) concerning the causal association between ACTs and ATAs. For the data collection from 115 academics (60.9% female), we used the Conceptions of Teaching and Learning and the Revised Approaches to Teaching Inventory. Our findings indicated that ATAs were a causal predictor of ACTs, not vice-versa, regardless of participants’ gender and teaching responsibilities. Specific ATAs (i.e. student-centered or teacher-centered) predicted complementary ACTs in time. Our results reveal that conceptual changes in academics can be possible after observing the positive effects of a specific teaching method on student learning. Therefore, academic developers should help academics (especially novice teachers) accurately distinguish student-centered from teacher-centered teaching behaviors and learn how to apply specific student-centered teaching methods in conjunction with self-reflective techniques. More empirical longitudinal studies with sound designs are needed to understand better the multi-directional nature and influence between ACTs and ATAs over time.
Approaches to teaching in higher education: the perspective of network analysis using the revised approaches to teaching inventory Velibor Mladenovici, Marian D. Ilie, Laurențiu P. Maricuțoiu, Daniel E. Iancu Higher Education, 2022 Over time, the academics’ approaches to teaching (i.e., content- or learning-focused approach) were intensively studied. Traditionally, studies estimated the shared variance between the items that describe a behavioral pattern (i.e., the psychometric approach), defined as a learning- or content-focused approach to teaching. In this study, we used a different perspective (i.e., network analysis) to investigate academics’ approaches to teaching. We aimed to bring in new insights regarding the interactions between the elements that define academics’ approaches to teaching. We used the Revised Approaches to Teaching Inventory to collect responses from 705 academics (63.97% female) from six Romanian universities. The main results indicated that academics’ conceptions about the subject matter are central to their preferences concerning the adoption of a content-focused or a learning-focused approach to teaching. The estimated network is stable across different sub-samples defined by the academic disciplines, class size, academics’ gender, and teaching experience. We highlighted the implications of these findings for research and teaching practice in higher education. Also, several recommendations for developing pedagogical training programs for academics were suggested. In particular, this study brings valuable insights for addressing academics’ conception about the subject matter and suggests that this could be a new topic for pedagogical training programs dedicated to university teachers.
Transferring Learning into the Workplace: Evaluating a Student-centered Learning Approach through Computer Science Students’ Lens Mădălina Eraşcu, Velibor Mladenovici International Conference on Computer Supported Education Csedu Proceedings, 2022 : Over time, instructional training activities for academics that promote student-centered learning (SCL) increased. However, few things are known about the extent to which academics’ learning is transferred into the daily teaching practice. In this study, we investigated the impact of transferring learning into the workplace of an Informatics teacher (first author of this paper) seeking to promote SCL within a new discipline in her portfolio (i.e., Software Engineering ). For this purpose, a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-test was employed. Self-reported data were collected as follows: from the experimental group, there were 52 students (28.8% female) at the pre-test, and 29 students (37.9% female) at the pre-test, while from the control group, data were collected from 26 students (34.6% female) at the pre-test and 19 students (47.3% female) at the post-test. Independent t-test analysis showed that the SCL initiative had only a positive impact on student learning approaches and teaching quality as perceived by students. Concerning students’ learning approaches, the SCL initiative had no effect. Several interpretations and perspectives of the current study are discussed.
Students’ approach to learning: evidence regarding the importance of the interest-to-effort ratio Izabella G. Smarandache, Laurentiu P. Maricutoiu, Marian D. Ilie, Daniel E. Iancu, Velibor Mladenovici Higher Education Research and Development, 2022 Existing science evidence sustained that students’ preferences for a learning approach (i.e., deep or surface learning) depend on several contextual variables. In this study, we used the network psychometrics perspective to investigate the interactions between the elements that define students’ learning preferences. We aimed to understand which are the central elements of the students’ behavior patterns used when they decide to adopt one specific learning approach. We used the Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire to collect responses from a large sample of university students (5357 students, 73% female). The results indicated that the interest-to-effort ratio is central to students’ preference for deep or surface learning. Also, we found that the estimated network is stable across different groups defined by the academic disciplines, students’ gender, and year of study. These results are presented as arguments for using the workload and students’ interest as topics in pedagogical programs dedicated to academics.
Reviewing the research on instructional development programs for academics. Trying to tell a different story: A meta-analysis Marian D. Ilie, Laurențiu P. Maricuțoiu, Daniel E. Iancu, Izabella G. Smarandache, Velibor Mladenovici, Dalia C.M. Stoia, Silvia A. Toth Educational Research Review, 2020 This paper presents a meta-analysis that investigates the effectiveness of instructional development programs (IDPs) dedicated to academics. IDPs are instructional activities specifically planned to improve quality of teaching in higher education by enhancing academics' instructional approach to support student learning. We analyzed 1555 unique results from online searches and from the references lists of the previous nine reviews on this topic. The final sample contains 20 controlled studies, carried out between 1973 and 2019, in which 23 independent effect sizes were reported. The results indicated that IDPs have a small effect size (d = 0.385, SE = 0.055, Z = 6.985, p < .001, k = 23). We did not find evidence of publication bias. Additionally, we analyzed the influences of different trainee's characteristics, features and outcome of IDPs on the final effectiveness of such programs. Trainees' mandatory enrollment on IDPs reported stronger effect (d = 0.515), while IDPs that lasted less than 15 h reported the highest effect size (d = 0.571). The effect size of IDPs reported on students' outcomes is small (d = 0.396), but that on teachers' outcomes is even smaller (d = 0.315). For the first time, our findings summarize quantitative evidence regarding the overall IDPs effectiveness.
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Raport intermediar I: Raport de analiză pretest a percepției mentorilor și studenților raportat la implementarea și efectul sistemului integrat de activități de învățare în … V Mladenovici, P Sârbescu, LP Maricuțoiu, PI Costea, I Sas, D Pintea, ... https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17285.31207 , 2025 2025
Formarea pedagogică a universitarilor. Lecții desprinse din practici internaționale și naționale MD Ilie, V Mladenovici Pedagogie universitară 1, 172-181 , 2025 2025
The Quest for More Caring and Humanity in Digital Assessment G Domilescu, V Mladenovici Digital Assessment in Higher Education: Navigating and Researching … , 2024 2024
Dynamics of change of academics’ teaching approaches: A latent profile transition analysis MD Ilie, P Van Petegem, V Mladenovici, LP Maricuţoiu Studies in Educational Evaluation 81, 101349 , 2024 2024 Citations: 15
Promoting Student-Centered Teaching Through a Professional Development Program for Academics—A Mixed Study R Balan, V Mladenovici, MO Bunoiu, MD Ilie Curaj, A., Hâj, C.M., Pricopie, R. (eds) European Higher Education Area 2030 … , 2024 2024
Academics at the Core of Student-Centered Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learned From the Experience of the Center of Academic Development of the West University of Timisoara V Mladenovici, MO Bunoiu, MD Ilie Curaj, A., Hâj, C.M., Pricopie, R. (eds) European Higher Education Area 2030 … , 2024 2024 Citations: 4
Towards a Consensus: Harmonizing Definitions and Consistency in Terminology Use of Conceptions of Teaching in Higher Education. A Systematic Literature Review V Mladenovici, M Crasovan, MD Ilie Journal of Educational Sciences 25 (1), 4-32 , 2024 2024 Citations: 2
A cross-lagged panel model analysis between academics’ conceptions of teaching and their teaching approaches V Mladenovici, MD Ilie Studies in Higher Education 48 (11), 1767-1780 , 2023 2023 Citations: 12
Academics’ pedagogical training: effects on teachers and students’ outcomes, a multilevel analysis MD Ilie, JD Vermunt, V Mladenovici, Z Pap, LP Maricuțoiu 20th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction … , 2023 2023
Is teachers’ well-being associated with students’ school experience? A meta-analysis of cross-sectional evidence LP Maricuțoiu, Z Pap, E Ștefancu, V Mladenovici, DG Valache, ... Educational Psychology Review 35 (1), 1 , 2023 2023 Citations: 84
Raport final (Rf) privind evaluarea impactului celei de a-III a ediții a competiției de granturi didactice UVT V Mladenovici, R Balan, M Ilie 2023
Evaluating the Impact of a Pedagogical Training Program Offered to Awarded University Teachers R Balan, N Purtan, V Mladenovici, MD Ilie Journal of Pedagogy 2, 195-236 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
Happy teacher, healthy class? Linking teachers’ subjective well-being to high-school and university students’ physical and mental health in a three-level longitudinal study Z Pap, L Maricuțoiu, D Vîrgă, M Ilie, V Mladenovici, B Popescu, ... Social Psychology of Education, 811–831 , 2023 2023 Citations: 41
Students’ approach to learning: evidence regarding the importance of the interest-to-effort ratio IG Smarandache, LP Maricutoiu, MD Ilie, DE Iancu, V Mladenovici Higher Education Research & Development 41 (2), 546-561 , 2022 2022 Citations: 73
Raport final (Rf) privind evaluarea impactului competiției de granturi didactice UVT DVMCR BALAN, N PURTAN 2022
Transferring Learning into the Workplace: Evaluating a Student-centered Learning Approach through Computer Science Students' Lens. M Erascu, V Mladenovici Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported … , 2022 2022 Citations: 7
Approaches to teaching in higher education: the perspective of network analysis using the revised approaches to teaching inventory V Mladenovici, MD Ilie, LP Maricuțoiu, DE Iancu Higher education, 255–277 , 2022 2022 Citations: 76
Raport privind evaluarea impactului competiției de granturi didactice UVT, 2020 DVMCR BALAN, N PURTAN 2021
Raport intermediar 1 (Ri1) privind evaluarea pretest a cadrelor didactice s, ia student, ilor din grupul t, inta [Intermediate Report 1 (Ri1) on the pretest assessment of … MD Ilie, NA Bibu, A Isac, V Mladenovici, DE Iancu 2021 Citations: 2
Raport final privind evaluarea eficienței programelor educaționale desfășurate în cadrul proiectului „Împreună universități și angajatori. Un sistem integrat de programe … V Maricuțoiu, L.P., Ilie, M.D., Iancu E.D., Mladenovici http://cda.uvt.ro/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Raport-final-de-evaluare-a … , 2021 2021
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Is teachers’ well-being associated with students’ school experience? A meta-analysis of cross-sectional evidence LP Maricuțoiu, Z Pap, E Ștefancu, V Mladenovici, DG Valache, ... Educational Psychology Review 35 (1), 1 , 2023 2023 Citations: 84
Approaches to teaching in higher education: the perspective of network analysis using the revised approaches to teaching inventory V Mladenovici, MD Ilie, LP Maricuțoiu, DE Iancu Higher education, 255–277 , 2022 2022 Citations: 76
Students’ approach to learning: evidence regarding the importance of the interest-to-effort ratio IG Smarandache, LP Maricutoiu, MD Ilie, DE Iancu, V Mladenovici Higher Education Research & Development 41 (2), 546-561 , 2022 2022 Citations: 73
Reviewing the research on instructional development programs for academics. Trying to tell a different story: A meta-analysis MD Ilie, LP Maricuțoiu, DE Iancu, IG Smarandache, V Mladenovici, ... Educational Research Review 30, 100331 , 2020 2020 Citations: 65
Happy teacher, healthy class? Linking teachers’ subjective well-being to high-school and university students’ physical and mental health in a three-level longitudinal study Z Pap, L Maricuțoiu, D Vîrgă, M Ilie, V Mladenovici, B Popescu, ... Social Psychology of Education, 811–831 , 2023 2023 Citations: 41
Dynamics of change of academics’ teaching approaches: A latent profile transition analysis MD Ilie, P Van Petegem, V Mladenovici, LP Maricuţoiu Studies in Educational Evaluation 81, 101349 , 2024 2024 Citations: 15
A cross-lagged panel model analysis between academics’ conceptions of teaching and their teaching approaches V Mladenovici, MD Ilie Studies in Higher Education 48 (11), 1767-1780 , 2023 2023 Citations: 12
Transferring Learning into the Workplace: Evaluating a Student-centered Learning Approach through Computer Science Students' Lens. M Erascu, V Mladenovici Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported … , 2022 2022 Citations: 7
Promoting student-centred forms of learning across an entire university: The West university of Timişoara project MD Ilie, MO Bunoiu, DE Iancu, V Mladenovici, IG Smarandache, ... Bologna process beyond, 131-135 , 2020 2020 Citations: 6
Academics at the Core of Student-Centered Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learned From the Experience of the Center of Academic Development of the West University of Timisoara V Mladenovici, MO Bunoiu, MD Ilie Curaj, A., Hâj, C.M., Pricopie, R. (eds) European Higher Education Area 2030 … , 2024 2024 Citations: 4
Evaluating the Impact of a Pedagogical Training Program Offered to Awarded University Teachers R Balan, N Purtan, V Mladenovici, MD Ilie Journal of Pedagogy 2, 195-236 , 2023 2023 Citations: 4
Effectiveness of an instructional development program for academics: Teachers’ approaches to teaching, students’ perceptions of teaching and approaches to learning V Mladenovici, MD Ilie, LP Maricuoiu, DE Iancu, IG Smarandache Unpublished manuscript , 2019 2019 Citations: 4
Towards a Consensus: Harmonizing Definitions and Consistency in Terminology Use of Conceptions of Teaching in Higher Education. A Systematic Literature Review V Mladenovici, M Crasovan, MD Ilie Journal of Educational Sciences 25 (1), 4-32 , 2024 2024 Citations: 2
Raport intermediar 1 (Ri1) privind evaluarea pretest a cadrelor didactice s, ia student, ilor din grupul t, inta [Intermediate Report 1 (Ri1) on the pretest assessment of … MD Ilie, NA Bibu, A Isac, V Mladenovici, DE Iancu 2021 Citations: 2
Raport intermediar I: Raport de analiză pretest a percepției mentorilor și studenților raportat la implementarea și efectul sistemului integrat de activități de învățare în … V Mladenovici, P Sârbescu, LP Maricuțoiu, PI Costea, I Sas, D Pintea, ... https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17285.31207 , 2025 2025
Formarea pedagogică a universitarilor. Lecții desprinse din practici internaționale și naționale MD Ilie, V Mladenovici Pedagogie universitară 1, 172-181 , 2025 2025
The Quest for More Caring and Humanity in Digital Assessment G Domilescu, V Mladenovici Digital Assessment in Higher Education: Navigating and Researching … , 2024 2024
Promoting Student-Centered Teaching Through a Professional Development Program for Academics—A Mixed Study R Balan, V Mladenovici, MO Bunoiu, MD Ilie Curaj, A., Hâj, C.M., Pricopie, R. (eds) European Higher Education Area 2030 … , 2024 2024
Academics’ pedagogical training: effects on teachers and students’ outcomes, a multilevel analysis MD Ilie, JD Vermunt, V Mladenovici, Z Pap, LP Maricuțoiu 20th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction … , 2023 2023
Raport final (Rf) privind evaluarea impactului celei de a-III a ediții a competiției de granturi didactice UVT V Mladenovici, R Balan, M Ilie 2023
