THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN E-LEARNING AND SUSTAINABILITY. THE BLOG AS A FUTURE E-LEARNING TOOL

In the last decades, the information technology has developed at a rapid pace, changing people's perceptions, reality and needs. This has created a virtual environment, called social media, which is spread all over the globe and it is in a continuous expansion. The social media covers accessible web tools that people interact with, create, valorise information and have online reactions towards everything that happens around them. Some of these easily accessible web tools are blogs, initially called weblogs, with a short history in comparison with the internet, but very important in terms of social impact. Blogs led to the emergence of new ways of working and training for students and other interested stakeholders. Thus, in the recent years, they registered an increase in student recruitment. Long distance learning generated a high increase in the university environment, in terms of new technologies, elements of "e-learning", "virtual library" and/or "virtual university". The EC (European Commission) sustains this type of education for university studies in the context of creation a European knowledge-based society. The methodological section of this research contains an analysis based on questionnaires responses from University students in Romania, regarding e-learning, blogs, time spent on the internet, and how often do they use e-learning methods. The purpose of this research is to acknowledge to what extent the educational environment is influenced by blogs and how well known and attractive is the "e-learning" concept among Romanian students. As well as the sustainability of learning online. This study is useful for students, professors and all individuals involved in the academic and learning environments.