The upside-down-world of e-learning

New technologies rather than educational principles and philosophieshave tended to dictate the shape of development in the world of elearning.Giving educators an active and determining rather than apassive role in the development of learning systems is vital if e-learningis to realise its transformative potential in education in the 21st century.Many of the currently available learning technologies and systems,generally devised by technicians rather than educators, have offeredlimited room for creative or effective teaching. The limitations of thesesystems – their time consuming nature and their failure to adapt thetechnology to take account of educational contexts – need to beunderstood, acknowledged and overcome. The next generation oflearning technologies and systems will only take us forward if educatorshave a much greater stake in controlling how they are developed. Thearticle identifies some key theoretical and practical issues which shouldbe given priority in newly emerging learning technologies and systems.

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