e-learning a distinct discipline

To what extent should we think of elearning as a distinct discipline with a need for its own concepts and vocabulary?

As I have gone through the different definitions, and contemplated them in my own experience and within the framework of a technological environment my opinions have grown and changed. I came from a point of view that elearning is just another approach. I asked the question of why we find it difficult to reproduce learning online when our face to face is so good. I realise that the intricacies that we learn as face to face teachers needs a lot more design and framework if it is to be produced in an online world. I can make a cup of tea, but if I want to get a computer to do it, there are many variables, more parts and a lot of testing to get it right.

The same I think is true of elearning. Therefore I do think that although we can approach it with the same desire within the learning, more structure, design and fine tuning is needed.
Does it needs it’s own vocabulary – maybe not, but it does need a distinct discipline that is different from face to face learning because of the technology involved. Often the educators and technologists, as Deneka pointed out, do not meet and have different agendas.


Do you think the formal–informal divide is more or less evident in elearning than in more traditional forms of learning?

There have been some really good discussions about this on the forums. I think that learners perceive elearning to be less formal because it does not have the physical constraints of face to face learning. As both Ulrike and Sharon pointed out, we perceive the informality because there is more freedom. I also think that our perceptions may come from a learned experience of snobbery, in that education has to be in a certain format through a certain environment, and also a fear from people who find it difficult to embrace technology.


Did you find any of the concepts difficult to place on the grid provided? If so, why was this?
I found that some of the concepts overlapped each other  and also belonged at different places on the grid dependent on the context that I was thinking of it.


Can you think of two different axes for such a grid that might also help categorise elearning concepts?
Individual and collaborative learning.