Director of Atatürk University Teaching and Learning Development Application and Research Center Turkey

Yüksel Göktaş, born on December 15, 1975 in Muğla Milas, graduated from Gazi University Computer Education Department in 1998. He worked as a technical staff in different IT companies and as a Computer Teacher in the Ministry of National Education. He completed his master degree in the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies at METU in 2003, and his doctorate in the same department in 2006. Between 2005-2006, he worked as a visiting scholar in the Educational Technology Program at Purdue University, USA. Between 2007-2021, he worked as a faculty member at Atatürk University, Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies. Since May 2021, he has been working as a faculty member and head of the Department of Software Engineering at the same university. He has also been the Director of Atatürk University Teaching and Learning Development Application and Research Center since 2018.

Prof. Dr. Göktaş has been an executive or researcher in more than 20 national and international projects. He is a member of the project evaluation team of many national and international institutions and organizations. Göktaş is also a member of the Advisory and Evaluation Board at Tübitak. Prof. Dr. Yüksel GÖKTAŞ has 19 books or book chapters published in national or international publishing houses, 65 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals (SSCI/SCI), 42 articles published in national peer- refereed journals, 131 papers presented in national or international scientific meetings.

UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning, North-West University (NWU) South Africa

Dr Jako Olivier is a professor in Multimodal Learning at the North-West University (NWU), South Africa and he holds the UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Re-sources (OER). He obtained his PhD in 2011 in which he researched the accommodation and promotion of multilingualism in schools through blended learning. Before he joined the NWU as lecturer in 2010, he was involved in teaching information technology and languages in schools in the United Kingdom and in South Africa. From 2010 to 2015 he was a lecturer in the then Faculty of Arts of the NWU after being appointed as associate professor in the Faculty of Education in 2015. During 2012 he was a guest lecturer at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. In 2018 he was promoted to full professor at the NWU. Jako is a rated researcher with the South Africa National Research Foundation and in 2018 he received the Emerging Researcher Medal from the Education Association of South Africa (EASA). He is also on the international academic board of the Open Spaces University, Morocco. In 2021 he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

As an activist for open education he is an active member of the Creative Commons Chapter of South Africa and leads the Network of OER and Multimodal Self-Directed Learning in Southern Africa (NOMSA). From 2021 he has acted as a mentor within the Open Education for a Better World (OE4BW) initiative. His research, located within the NWU’s Research Unit for Self-directed Learning, is focused on self-directed learning, multimodal learning, open educational resources, open pedagogy, renewable assessments multiliteracies, microlearning, individualized and contextualized blended learning, e-learning in language classrooms and online multilingualism.

Director of the eLearning Center of Politehnica University Romania

Dr.eng. Diana Andone is the Director of the eLearning Center of Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, responsible for planning and implementing digital education and associate professor in multimedia, interactive and web technologies. Since 1998, she teaches course modules in universities from UK, France, USA, Finland, Italy, Greece. She has extensive research experience with intense publication (over 17 books, 100 research papers, 11 Best paper Awards, reviewer at 6 major journals and several other publications, associate editor at IEEE Transactions on Education, co-chair IEEE ICALT iOpenLearn) and more than 30 research and educational international projects. Dr. Andone is EDEN Senior Fellow, IEEE Education Society 2021 Distinguished Chapter Leadership Award, EDEN Vice-President for Communication and Communities (2018-2021), and member in IEEE Education Society Board of Governors (2021-present), and in IEEE Romania Section the Educational activities Chair (2019-present). She is passionate about the ubiquitous access to technologies and how they can be used to improve people’s life, actively supports the local start-up movement, women in tech, and the digital culture. She initiated several projects for transforming communities, is invited as speaker at conferences and in the last 2 years led the digital education community movement in Romania, thorough the Together Online webinars and the digital culture and heritage with Spotlight Heritage Timișoara. https://elearning.upt.ro/ro/diana-andone/