The Romanian science education reform is targeting a real literacy in science and technology among all graduates of the compulsory education. Writing, talking, and reading about science are desirable goals of scientific literacy, and also ways of achieving it. One the one hand, the current generation of pupils is a digital one, a YouTube Generation or Net Generation, which has grown up in an environment in which it is constantly exposed to digital technology and accustomed to the use of various media, short written texts, pictures and videos, for pleasure and sometimes for learning. On the other hand, handson learning activities based on ICT tools aim at increasing pupils' interest in sciences both during formal and non-formal education. In this context, the use of visuals and ICT, in particular, of digital comics, can be a suitable medium/method for science education and communication for this young generation. In this article, we describe and analyze how ICTbased formal and non-formal activities incorporating digital comics and other visuals can facilitate learning and can increase student enthusiasm/motivation for learning science. This article presents and analyzes example activities designed for secondary school pupils by students from the Faculty of Physics, from the West University of Timisoara, which are also enrolled in the preservice teacher training program offered by this institution. The favorable feedback we have received from the pupils and preservice science teachers alike leads us to assert that such innovative ICT-based teaching methods can lead to a revival of the Romanian science education in general, and of the Romanian physics education in particular, at least as a result of raising pupils' interest in this discipline.

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New emerging digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing, blockchain, robotization, the Internet of Things, big data, etc. have produced a powerful disruptive effect in almost all areas of our existence and have radically changed the way we live, work, learn or relax. Without consciously realizing it, everyone is adapting to the digital era. As nothing “escapes” the all-encompassing digital transformation, higher education follows track too. So, it is natural to ask ourselves: what are the higher education institutions doing to keep up with this rapidly evolving digital world? In this paper, we present the case of West University of Timişoara as an example of good practice in dealing with the effects of digital transformation on the university and its academic community (teachers, students, administrative staff). Our goal is to gain an understanding of what is being proposed through the institutional development strategy, and what is actually happening in our university from the digitalization perspective. Thus, we conduct an exploratory research using a quantitative approach that involves a survey applied to students enrolled in different study programs, at different levels. We focus on their opinion about how our university can prepare and transform in order to adopt an integrated digital approach, looking into topics like: technology-enabled services, digital enrollment of students, digitization of the administrative processes, implementation of digital procedures to offer recommendations or file complains, digital curricula, new modes of digital learning delivery, etc. Our findings reveal that West University of Timişoara must take significant steps towards the implementation of digital transformations, while, however, remaining watchful and cautious of the hidden implications of this process.