Cengiz Hakan AYDIN, PhD, is a full professor in Anadolu University of Turkey where he has been offering courses in the field of open and distance learning (ODL) since the early 1990s. Currently, he is the Head of Distance Education Department, Faculty of Open Education, Anadolu University, and the director of the OpenAnadolu Project (including AKADEMA, MOOCs platform) at the university. He is also serving as an external evaluator for the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (YOKAK), Turkiye.

Dr. AYDIN served as an instructional designer in the Open Education System until September 2017, and as the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, one of the three faculties that make up the Open Education System of the University between 2013 and 2016. His current research interest focuses on the design and development of ODL environments, integration of new technologies (AI, VR, AR, MR, etc.) into ODL, Open Educational Resources (OERs), Open Educational Practices (OEPs), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and current trends in higher education. Dr. AYDIN also served as the president and board member of the International Division at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), as a board member of the International Council for Educational Media (ICEM), and as a member of the Open Educational Resources Committee (OER Advocacy Committee) of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE).

He is currently a steering committee member of the OpenupEd initiative of the European Council for Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU), a member of AECT Board, and the Centre for Distance Education Research (COER). He is additionally on the editorial boards of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL), Educational Media International (EMI), and the Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education (JODDE).