Dr Catherine Cronin is an independent scholar and critical advocate of open education, based in Ireland. Her work focuses on critical and social justice approaches in digital, open and higher education, including most recently co-editing Higher education for good: Teaching and learning futures with Professor Laura Czerniewicz.
George Ubachs is Managing Director of EADTU, the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, responsible for significant scholarship and insight related to innovation in online and distance teaching. The EADTU’s wide volume of contemporary reports and practice insights are freely available to the global community. George is also the ICDE Focal Point on Quality for Europe, and coordinator of the European MOOC Consortium (EMC), which has developed a standard for micro-credentials through the Common Microcredential Framework.
Ubachs, G., Henderikx, P. (2023). Quality Assurance Systems for Digital Higher Education in Europe. In: Zawacki-Richter, O., Jung, I. (eds) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2080-6_41
European Association of Distance Teaching Universities. (2024). Supporting Retention and Student Services in Online and Distance Education. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11120440
Professor João Mattar is a specialist in distance education with the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. João has over 75 publications across a broad range of subject areas in education, including games in education and connectivism. He is a Member of the International Council of Advisors of the UNESCO Chair in Distance Education (CUED) at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Spain, and an International Specialist at the Higher Education Assessment and Accreditation Agency (A3ES) of Portugal. He is also currently the President of ABED, the Distance Education Association of Brazil.
Mattar, J., Santos, C. C., & Cuque, L. M. (2022). Analysis and comparison of international digital competence frameworks for education. Education Sciences, 12(12), 932. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/12/932
Ramos, D. K., Anastácio, B. S., Da Silva, G. A., Rosso, L. U., & Mattar, J. (2023). Burnout syndrome in different teaching levels during the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 235. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-023-15134-8
Baxto da Silva, W., Amaro, R., & Mattar, J. (2019). Distance education and the Open University of Brazil: History, structure, and challenges. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 20(4), 99-115. https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/4132
Mattar, J., Ramos, D. K., & Lucas, M. R. (2022). DigComp-based digital competence assessment tools: literature review and instrument analysis. Education and Information Technologies, 27(8), 10843-10867. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-022-11034-3
Dr Mark Nichols is Executive Director of Learning Design & Development at Open Polytechnic in New Zealand. He is current President of ICDE, and a Commonwealth of Learning Chair. Mark also pioneered this podcast, with the highly able assistance of Nev Ellington, who he met at the Open University. Mark’s most recent scholarship is in the areas of terminology and delivery modes. He will co-host the ICDE World Conference next year in New Zealand.
Nichols, M. (2023). Commentary: What, exactly, is ’online’ education? Journal of Learning for Development, 10(2), 142–148. https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v10i2.1054
Nichols, M. (2022). Transforming Conventional Education through ODDE. In: Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_35-1
Professor Charlotte Gunawardena is Distinguished Professor of Distance Education and Instructional Technology with the University of New Mexico. Lani has published and presented on distance education for over 25 years and has over 100 publications to her credit. She is currently researching the sociocultural context of digital learning environments and social presence theory, examining the social construction of knowledge in online learning communities.
Gunawardena, C., Chen, Y., Flor, N., & Sánchez, D. (2023). Deep learning models for analyzing social construction of knowledge online. Online Learning, 27(4), 69-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v27i4.4055
Gunawardena, C., Jayatilleke, G., Kulasekara, G. & Kumarasinha, M. (2020). Distributed Co-Mentoring as a Means to Develop Culturally Inclusive Online Learning Communities. In M. Brown, M. Nic Giolla Mhichil, E. Beirne, & E. Costello (eds.), Proceedings of the 2019 ICDE World Conference on Online Learning, Volume 1, (pp. 389-400). Dublin, Ireland: Dublin City University, http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3804014 (Won the Best Full Paper Award at the conference)
Gunawardena, C. N. (2020). Culturally Inclusive Online Learning for Capacity Development Projects in International Contexts. Journal of Learning for Development , 7(1), 5-30. (Invited Article) Retrieved from https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/403
Gunawardena, C. N., Frechette, C., & Layne, L. (2019). Culturally Inclusive Instructional Design: A Framework and Guide for Building Online Wisdom Communities. New York: Routledge. https://www.wiscom.online/
Gunawardena, C. N., Flor, N. V., Gomez, D., & Sanchez, D. (2016). Analyzing social construction of knowledge Online by Employing Interaction Analysis, Learning Analytics, and Social Network Analysis. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 17(3), 35-60. Available from: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ulls_fsp/172/
Gunawardena, C. N., Lowe, C. A., & Anderson, T. (1997). Analysis of a global online debate and the development of an interaction analysis model for examining social construction of knowledge in computer conferencing. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17(4), 395-429. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2190/7MQV-X9UJ-C7Q3-NRAG
Dr Taskeen Adam is Co-Director at Open Development & Education – a multicultural team dedicated to open education developments around the world. Taskeen’s research highlights that historical injustices, cultural imposition, and economic dependence continue to play a pivotal role in education and she seeks to address cultural-epistemic injustices exacerbated through educational technologies.
Adam, T. (2020). Between Social Justice and Decolonisation: Exploring South African MOOC Designers’ Conceptualisations and Approaches to Addressing Injustices [journal article]. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1), 7.https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.557
Adam, T. (2022). Digital Literacy Needs for Online Learning Among Peri-Urban, Marginalised Youth in South Africa. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL), 14(3), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJMBL.310940
Castillo, N., Adam, T., & Haßler, B. (2022). Improving the Impact of Educational Technologies on Learning Within Low-Income Contexts. In Learning, Marginalization, and Improving the Quality of Education in Low-income Countries. Open Book Publishers.https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0256.
Adam, T., El-Serafy, Y., Podea, M., Haßler, B., & Open Development & Education. (2021). The use of “building blocks” to develop digital platforms for education in sub-Saharan Africa. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.0049
Dr Ratna Selvaratnam is Manager of Learning Technologies & Innovation at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia. Ratna is a Design Champion with ECU’s University of the Future project, she has recent forward-facing publications in the areas of micro-credentials and governance of artificial intelligence, and is on the ACODE (Australasian Council for Open and Digital Education) Executive as Treasurer.
Selvaratnam, S., Venaruzzo, L. (2023) Governance of artificial intelligence and data in Australasian higher education: A snapshot of policy and practice. ACODE Whitepapers. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2023.717
Selvaratnam, R. M., Warburton, S., Parrish, D., & Crew, S. (2024). A maturity model for micro-credentialing and shorter forms of learning practice in Australasian universities. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2023.2299150
Selvaratnam, R., Rodgers, K. (2021). Can You See Me? An Australian University Moves to Emergency Synchronous Delivery. In: Fayed, I., Cummings, J. (eds) Teaching in the PostCOVID-19 Era. Springer, Cham. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74088-7_26
Selvaratnam, R. and Sankey, M. (2021) ‘The State of Micro-Credentials Implementation and Practice in Australasian Higher Education’, Open Praxis, 13(2), p. 228–238. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.2.130
Dr Gabi Witthaus is a Research Fellow at University College London specialising in education in contexts of mass displacement, and Senior Digital Education Developer with the University of Birmingham. Gabi is a keen advocate of open education resources and widening participation to higher education.
Witthaus, G. (2023). Refugees and Online Engagement in Higher Education: A Capabilitarian Model. Online Learning, 27(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v27i2.3762
Witthaus, G., Inamorato dos Santos. A., Childs, M., Tannhäuser, A., Conole, G., Nkuyubwatsi, B., Punie, Y. (2016) Validation of Non-formal MOOC-based Learning: An Analysis of Assessment and Recognition Practices in Europe (OpenCred). EUR 27660 EN; doi:10.2791/809371. Available at: http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC96968/lfna27660enn.pdf
Farrow, R., Iniesto, F., Weller, M., Pitt., R., Algers, A., Baas, M., Bozkurt, A., Cox, G., Czerwonogora, A., Elias, T., Essmiller, K., Funk, J., Lambert, S., Mittelmeier, J., Nagashima, T., Rabin, E., Rets, I., Spica, E., Vladimirschi, V. & Witthaus, G. (2021). GO-GN Guide to Conceptual Frameworks. Open Education Research Hub. The Open University, UK. CC-BY 4.0. https://go-gn.net/gogn_outputs/conceptual-frameworks
Junhong Xiao is Emeritus Professor at the Open University of Shantou in China. His current research interests cover various aspects of open, distance and digital education. His international publications include a major contribution to the Springer Handbook of Open, Digital, and Distance Education, and many contemporary themes of online learning.
Junhong’s online profile: Junhong Xiao is Emeritus Professor at the Open University of Shantou (formerly known as Shantou Radio & Television University), a local branch of the Open University of China and a founding member of the Center for Open Education Research, the University of Oldenburg. He is Editor of the SpringerBriefs in Open and Distance Education series, and columnist for inspired, the newsletter of Open University Malaysia. He is on the editorial boards of various international journals, serves as peer reviewer for numerous high-impact journals (both English and Chinese), and provides consultancy in the areas of his expertise. His main research interest has been in various aspects of open, distance, and digital learning. For a complete list of his journal publications, please click https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5316-2957.
Xiao, J. (2024). Will Artificial Intelligence Enable Open Universities to Regain their Past Glory in the 21st Century?. Open Praxis, 16(1), 11–23. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.16.1.618
Xiao, J. (2023). Critiquing Sustainable Openness in Technology-Based Education from the Perspective of Cost-Effectiveness and Accessibility. Open Praxis, 15(3), 244–254. https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.3.569
Xiao, J. (2023). Critical Issues in Open and Distance Education Research. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 24(2), 213–228. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v24i2.6881
Peng, Y., & Xiao, J. (2022). Is the empirical research we have the research we can trust? A review of distance education journal publications in 2021. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 17(2). Retrieved from http://asianjde.com/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/659
Xiao, J. (2022). Introduction to History, Theory, and Research in ODDE. In O. Olaf Zawacki-Richter & I. Jung. (Eds.), Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (pp. 15-25). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0351-9_1-1
Nominated works (may require purchase):
Xiao, J. (2024). Revisiting the Theory of Transactional Distance: Implications for Open, Distance, and Digital Education in the 21st Century. American Journal of Distance Education, https://doi.org/ 10.1080/08923647.2024.2303328
Xiao, J. (2019). Digital transformation in higher education: critiquing the five-year development plans (2016-2020) of 75 Chinese universities. Distance Education, 40(4), 515-533. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01587919.2019.1680272
Xiao, J. (2017). Learner-content interaction in distance education: The weakest link in interaction research. Distance Education, 38(1), 123-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1298982
Paul Levinson, PhD, is a pioneer of online education, still teaching classes in person and via Zoom as a Professor at Fordham University in New York City, after nearly 50 years in university classrooms, and online classes in the 1980s at Connected Education which he co-founded with his wife Tina Vozick. Paul is a dedicated pedagogue, novelist, and singer/songwriter, whose advocacy for online education remains as energetic as it was in his early days with Connect Ed.
Levinson, P. (2022). The Explosive Growth of Social Media: Trump, COVID-19, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and Elon Musk. Studia Humanistyczne AGH, vol. 21/2. https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2022.21.2.9
Levinson, P. (2023). The Beatles and podcasts: Permanent passports to better understanding. The Journal of Beatles Studies, Volume 2023, No. Spring/Autumn. https://doi.org/10.3828/jbs.2023.12
