From the Editor

Dear E-mentor readers,

The current volume of the E-mentor comes out at the end of a very unusual and tough year, disrupted by the unexpected surge of COVID-19 pandemic which affected every aspect of our lives. Among these disruptions was education, which in the early months of 2020 had to be moved in a rush online. And despite the hope that in the fall semester it would be possible to return to schools and universities, the vast majority of classes all over the world remain in the internet space. Although some people tend to call it online education, those who are involved in e-learning from decades warn that such a name could be misleading and propose to call it emergency remote learning.

No wonder then that the content of the current volume also reflects the situation, and the vast majority of the articles tackle the educational issues. We can read about how students appraised blended learning classes before the COVID-19 pandemic, and also how they reacted to the rapid change of the learning mode in spring 2020. It is worth pointing out that in the latter article, the research was carried out by students themselves among their peers and those students are also co-authors of the paper. Some other papers present the concepts and even practical guidance on how to design and conduct effective online courses. An interesting supplement to those hints may be the presentation of the Acadly app, which may help engage students before, during and after their classes (both online and on-campus when they return).

There is a commonly held belief that despite all its drawbacks, the pandemic might, in some sense have a positive impact, such as stimulating a rethinking about the way people earn their university degrees and get certified. One of the responses to such need may be the concept of open badges, or the use of an AI-based coach assistant when it comes to work-based learning. That, in turn, corresponds with the necessity to reflect on how the employers should get prepared for the new generation (called Generation Z) just entering the labor market. I do hope this collection of papers creates a valuable reading for everyone interested in education all over the world.

E-mentor is an open-access journal available for free both online and in printed form. It continuously increases its international outreach, which is confirmed by the submissions from a growing number of countries such as Spain, Germany, Russia, Japan, India and Ghana. In the current issue, we also publish the contributions from the US and Ukraine, the countries from which the authors already collaborate with our journal.

All the scientific papers are peer-reviewed (we apply a double-blind procedure). Every article gets its individual DOI registered in Crossref, and the journal is indexed in several global databases, including Web of Science ESCI and EBSCO. There is no publishing fee for the authors. A brief guide for authors can be found on the penultimate page of the printed copy of the journal. More detailed instructions (including the submission form) are available online at http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/eng/page/8/Info_for_Authors. If you have any questions concerning the publication in E-mentor, please contact the editorial team at redakcja@e-mentor.edu.pl.

Maria Zając
Editor

"Kontynuacja działań na rzecz zwiększenia międzynarodowego zasięgu czasopisma E-mentor w wersji drukowanej i online (o otwartym dostępie)" - zadanie finansowane w ramach umowy nr 693/P-DUN/20I9 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę.

"Continuing the actions aimed at increasing international outreach of E-mentor scientific journal in print and online (open access)" - a task financed under the agreement No. 693/P-DUN/20I9 from the funds of the Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland designated for the dissemination of research and science achievements.