I would like to start off this first issue of the new year with an observation that I noted at the ICDE Conference in Costa Rica last November. We are receiving articles that refer to the Covid 19 pandemic as causing disruption in education, when it is clear from the content of the articles that the authors are referring to the Covid lockdown, not to the actual illness. It is possible, of course, for an article that does refer to the illnesses caused by the pandemic in relation to ODL; however, up to now, we have not received any. They all specifically mean the lockdown, not the actual pandemic. So, we have decided to advise authors to make the correction by referring to the “Covid lockdown” (or present a rationale for referring to the pandemic illnesses specifically).

In this issue, there is a renewed interest in MOOCs with three articles, ranging from quality assurance to social cognition and task-technology, and MOOC determinants at Chinese universities. In the lead article by Sebbeq and El Faddouli, they conduct a comprehensive review on quality assurance in MOOCs, developing a quality framework to guide MOOC designers, learners, and researchers. Kamble, Upadhyay, and Abhang, researching social cognition and task-technology as predictors, suggest that these features can affect the intentions of sales professionals to continue to engage in MOOCs. Determinants that drive Chinese universities to engage in MOOCs is the subject of the third MOOC paper by Wang, Criado, and van Hemmen.

In the following paper, Riwanda, Ridha, and Islamy demonstrate through their research that PDF hyperlinks significantly influence learning outcomes with positive feedback from students. Open education and credentialing in Europe are the subject of the paper by Griffiths, Burgos, and Aceto. They identified several themes related to the use of OER in Europe, including the lack of open assessment tools. They also highlight that organizational and practical problems are more of a problem than technologies.

Sezgin and Firat focus on the digital divide in open education in Türkiye. They looked at several variables that could affect digital divide competency, noting that those working in the private sector scored higher. From Türkiye to Fiji, for the final research paper in this edition, where Tagimaucia, D’Souza, and Chand explore the difficulties of Physical Education teachers in adjusting to online learning during the Covid lockdown.

In Book Notes, there are three reviews covering digital learning and assessment, distance education and blended learning, and Jon Dron’s new open-access guide on teaching, technology, and technique. The Literature Review section includes a systematic review of Artificial Intelligence in blended learning followed by a comprehensive review of articles on course features and learner profiling. Finally, in Notes From the Field, Waterhouse and Moller describe an OER tool for supporting learners at work or in the home. This is followed by the description of an intervention in the online teaching of business statistics by Boritshwarelo and Jayasinghe.

Editorial - Volume 25, Issue 1 by Rory McGreal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.