Gurhan Durak is a Professor of Instructional Technologies at Balikesir University, Türkiye. He received his Ph.D. in Distance Education from Anadolu University and served as a Visiting Fellow at The Open University, UK between 2024 and 2025. He is the Chair of the International Conference on Educational Technology and Online Learning (ICETOL) and the Chief Editor of the Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning (JETOL), in addition to serving on the Editorial Boards of several international journals. His research interests include Generative Artificial Intelligence in education, open and distance learning, virtual reality, the metaverse in education, social learning networks, support services in distance education, online learning, and the administration of distance education. He has published over sixty research articles, served as editor of seven academic books, and contributed to numerous book chapters and editorials.
Serkan Çankaya is Associate Prof. Dr. in the Department of Management Information Systems at Izmir Democracy University, Türkiye. Dr. Çankaya received an M.S. degree in the Computer Education & Instructional Technology Department at Balikesir University. He gained his Ph.D. in Computer Education and Instructional Technology at Anadolu University in June 2013. His academic interests include artificial intelligence (AI) in education, generative AI (GenAI), open and distance learning, virtual reality, the metaverse in education, social learning networks, support services in distance education, online learning, and the administration of distance education. He has authored over fifty articles, book chapters, books, and editorials and is a chief editor of the International Journal of Computers in Education, as well as a member of the Editorial Boards of other international journals.
Mike Sharples is an emeritus professor of Educational Technology in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, United Kingdom (UK). His research involves human-centred design of new technologies and environments for learning. He inaugurated the mLearn conference series and was the founding president of the International Association for Mobile Learning. He is an editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. He established the Innovating Pedagogy report series and is an author of over 300 books and papers in the areas of educational technology, science education, human-centred design of personal technologies, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.