Dr. Apostolos Koutropoulos ("AK") is the Online M.A. Program Manager for the Applied Linguistics Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston). He is also a Lecturer in the Instructional Design M.Ed. program at the same university. He holds an Ed.D. in Distance Learning from Athabasca University, as well as an M.A. in Applied Linguistics, an M.Ed. in Instructional Design, an M.Sc. in Information Technology, and an M.B.A. with a focus on Human Resources Management from the UMass Boston.  AK's research interests include open and distance education, online learning, massive open online courses (MOOCs), open educational practices, blended learning, and the use of social media in education. AK is an active member of several professional organizations, including the International Association for Blended Learning (IABL), Online Learning Consortium (OLC), NERCOMP and Educause, the Internet Society (ISOC), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), the Association for Talent Development (ATD), Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT), and Association for Learning Technology UK (ALT).