The shift from “e‐learning” to “learning”: Invisible technology and the dropping of the “e”

Abstract

Due to the generalization of electronically supported activities, we anticipate that, in the near future, the letter "e" in "e-learning," indicating the use of electronic media and information and communication technologies in education, will be dropped and that "e-learning" will be referred to as simply "learning." This paper presents an attempt at understanding the causes of the name shift and at predicting its consequences. We offer a constructive reflection on how e-learning has been looked upon and on what we foresee will happen in the future, drawing briefly on several areas of knowledge and on the experience of the authors as educators at university, teacher training and high school levels. Our effort has also resulted in greater awareness of the importance of social tools and of the relevance of the human factor in the learning process. IntroductionThe Information Age has reached maturity. During these last decades, we have witnessed the generalization of electronically supported activities to areas such as communication or commerce and, naturally, also to education. The use of electronic media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in different areas was indicated by the letter "e" and expressions such as "e-mail," "e-commerce" and "e-learning" were originated.

Knowledge Transfer Openness Matrix Facilitating Accessibility in UK Management Education Teaching

“…However, it has been on the threshold for some time now (Goodfellow and Lea, 2007;Paiva et al, 2016;Turban et al, 2000). Personalisation, flexibility of delivery and inclusion of a wider participation are cited (Laurillard, 2008) as being key ambitions for learning e-technologies in education.…”

“…However, sometimes these interactions can provide poor accessibility because of human error and limited availability of information (Nonanka and Takeuchi, 1995;Goh, 2002;Paiva et al, 2016). Breakdown at this point can mean that both learners and teachers stand unable to benefit and can suffer low levels of KT (Bates, 2001;Jerrard et al, 2013).…”

“…Perhaps predominantly due to continuing progress of information and communication technology development, e-Learning is rapidly emerging as the paradigm of modern higher education. The key advantages of e-Learning can include the advantageous interactions between learners and instructors, or learners and learners, free from limitations of time and space through the asynchronous and synchronous learning network model (Paiva et al, 2016;Turban et al, 2000). More so that ever E-learning's characteristics can fulfil the requirements for learning in a modern society and have created great demand for e-Learning from both businesses and institutes of higher education (Hasanzadeh et al, 2012).…”

“…Virtual Learning Environments, Blackboard, Discussion Boards) can be effectively used for accessibility to teaching and learning. Research suggests a common theme in that both traditional and non-traditional students increasingly expect this presence and use HE (Roberts, 2004;Hannon & D'Netto, 2007;Paiva et al, 2016). In some HE teaching and learning environments the high penetration of these teaching and learning tools has become the norm, or at least one of the indicators of accessibility to a HEI (Lanham & Zhou, 2003;Dobozy, 2012).…”

Cognitive Analysis of Meaning and Acquired Mental Representations as an Alternative Measurement Method Technique to Innovate E-Assessment

“…However, as will be seen by dropping the letter "e" from "eassessment" and "e-learning" (e.g., Paiva, Morais, Costa & Pinheiro, 2015), this is a difficult task because the system's neural net learning capacities and computer simulations of emergent schemata behaviour are intrinsically related to human learning theory. Figure 2 illustrates the four stages of the systematic collection and interpretation of learning outcomes in a CR digital assessment.…”