005 Professor Bart Rienties

Professor Som Naidu is internationally renowned for his scholarship in Open, Flexible, Distance and Online Learning, most notably as Executive Editor of the journal "Distance Education", one of the world's leading journals in the field.  He s currently Pro-Vice Chancellor and Director, Center for Flexible Learning, at the University of the South Pacific and has previously served in a variety of roles in the enhancement of learning and teaching at several Australian universities. Dr. Naidu possesses doctoral qualifications in Educational Technology from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. A former president of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Dr. Naidu has served as executive editor of its journal Distance Education since 1997. In May 2014 the Open University of Sri Lanka awarded Dr. Naidu a D.Litt. (Honoris Causa), in recognition of his extensive contribution to the field of open, flexible, distance and e-learning both regionally and internationally. In addition, in July 2020, Advance Higher Education, UK, admitted Dr. Naidu as Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy for his commitment, contribution and strategic leadership in the scholarship of learning and teaching. Interview: https://episodes.castos.com/onlinelearninglegends/050-Som-Naidu-Final.mp3 | recorded October2020 Som's online profile: https://www.usp.ac.fj/index.php?id=19639 Som's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/som-naidu-phd-d-litt-346a7199/ Distance Education (ODLAA Journal): https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdie20/current Current Affiliations (as at November 2020): ICDE Executive Committee: https://www.icde.org/icde-governance-resources/category/Executive+CommitteeExecutive Committee member (Open Education Global): ...

Professor Mark Brown is Ireland's first Chair in Digital Learning and Director of the National Institute for Digital Learning, based in Dublin. Mark has a rich publication record and has maintained representation across several professional bodies across his career. Interview: https://episodes.castos.com/onlinelearninglegends/044-Mark-Brown-final.mp3 | recorded July 2020 Mark's profile: https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/people/director.shtml Mark's research: https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/people/director.shtml#Scholarly Mark's social media links: https://www.dcu.ie/nidl/people/director.shtml#Social Twitter: @mbrownz ...

Dr Mohsen Keshavarz is Director of the Virtual Education Center of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences. He has a PhD in the area of virtual education planning and is an energetic advocate of distance learning in his home country of Iran, having translated Tony Bates’s book Teaching in a digital age to Persian in addition to several other projects, some with international collaborators. Interview: https://episodes.castos.com/onlinelearninglegends/058-Mohsen-Keshavarz-Final.mp3 | recorded June 2021 Mohsen’s online profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6350-2070 Nominated works (free to access): Keshavarz, M., & Ghoneim, A. (2021). Preparing Educators to Teach in a Digital Age. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 22(1), 221-242. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v22i1.4910Bates, A. W. (2016). Teaching in a Digital Age. Guidelines for Teaching and Learning. (M. Keshavarz & A. Sharif, Trans. in Persian: Chapter 1-5, Select a file format, Part of Readable) Vancouver BC: Tony Bates Associates Ltd.  https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-our-collection/find-open-textbooks/?uuid=da50f5f1-bbc6-481e-a359-e73007c66932&contributor=&keyword=&subject= Nominated works (may require purchase): Keshavarz, M. (2020). Distance Education System and Print Literacy. Distance Learning 17(2). https://www.infoagepub.com/products/distance-learning-vol-17-2Keshavarz, M. (2020). The Effect of Distance Education on Information Literacy Case Study: “Iran”. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education 21(2), pp.23-47. https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Quarterly-Review-of-Distance-Education-21-2Keshavarz, Mohsen. (2016). Distance Education System and Media Literacy. Distance Learning13(4). https://www.infoagepub.com/products/distance-learning-vol-13-4Keshavarz, Mohsen. (2015). Distance Education System and Computer Literacy. Distance Learning 12(5). https://www.infoagepub.com/products/Distance-Learning-Vol-12-5 ...