Among the terms for technology-enhanced education, ‘e-learning' may be an umbrella one to cover various types; on the mobile platform, ‘mobile learning' or ‘m-learning' has gained a solid foothold. A historical review of the development from e-learning to m-learning may help draw a clearer picture of technology-enhanced education in history and in the future. The change of the major medium from computers to smartphones involves not only where learning may occur in the digital age but also how. M-learning shares some similarities with e-learning, for example, enhancing learner autonomy, yet facing the difficulty in assessing efficacy and effectiveness. In the meantime, with advancing mobile technology, m-learning can achieve higher portability and personalisation in three aspects: devices, materials, and learners. How to engage, retain, and motivate mobile learners in the informal and spontaneous settings merit more attention. Solid theoretical underpinnings and empirically validated practice in other disciplines may shed light on the avenues of future research.
TopE-Learning: Educational Technology On The Computer Medium
The umbrella term ‘electronic learning’, or ‘e-learning’ for short (also as ‘E-Learning’, ‘e-Learning’ or ‘E-learning’ in prior literature), is a broadly defined tool that may apply to any digital media in the course of learning and training, covering the overwhelming majority of, if not all, technologies in modern times. Although ICT (information and communication technologies) seems to be a more accurate term to include comprehensive digital technologies, e-learning seems to be more widely accepted and influential than ‘ICT-based learning’, which emerged at the turn of this century (Finger, Russell, Jamieson-Proctor, & Russell, 2007, p. 2).
In fact, the scope of e-learning varies across time and users. Generally speaking, e-learning includes computer-based learning, web-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration. In some conceptualisation, e-learning seems largely synonymous with the term “online learning” and overlaps with “distance learning” (Pachler & Daly, 2011, p. 11). In a narrow definition, e-learning is confined to “online access to learning resources, anywhere and anytime” (Holmes & Gardner, 2006, p. 14). Nevertheless, other researchers hold that, as fundamental terms, ‘e-learning’, ‘online learning’ and ‘distance learning’ are often used in a rather conflicting manner, and e-learning should not refer to web-based practice only (Moore, Dickson-Deane, & Galyen, 2011). In recent years, researchers on e-learning tend to prefer a more flexible boundary of the concept, adopting an open approach to define e-learning. In an inclusive definition, e-learning is described as learning assisted by almost any kind of technology (Daly & Pachler, 2010, p. 217):
[A] set of practices which enhance the potential of people to learn with others via technology-aided interaction, in contexts which can be ‘free’ of barriers of time and place. It involves the utilisation of a range of digital resources - visual, auditory and text-based - which enable learners to access, create and publish material which serves educational purposes.
The computer, increasingly sophisticated, versatile and integrative, always serves as the medium of e-learning. Researchers have long been using ‘computer’ to represent educational technology, with acronyms including but not limited to CAL (computer-assisted learning), CAI (computer-aided instruction), CML (computer-managed learning), CBE (computer-based education), and CmC (computer-mediated communication). The role of the computer in education might be slightly different. According to Higgins (1983), US researchers often used ‘aided’ and ‘instruction’ as in CAI, while their British counterparts favoured ‘assisted’ and ‘learning’ as in CAL. It seems that ‘assist’ may better describe the role of computers in education, while ‘learning’ can imply that the focus of this process is on the student’s side.