Emerging Learning System

In today's rapidly changing e-Learning environment, we do not have time to endure months of implementation to complete our mission-critical training initiatives. The application of information and communications technology to education and training, both in the corporate and public sectors is now big business on a global scale. It is however, an industry which is young and relatively immature. The rapid emergence of new technologies outpaces the ability of learning communities to apply the technological infrastructure in any systemic or sustainable fashion. E-learning communities are still grappling with significant pedagogical, cultural and business issues which are often under-estimated by the technologists. M-learning has now emerged as a new wave of development, based on the use of mobile devices combined with wireless infrastructure, and much of the current literature on M-learning reveals all the strengths and weaknesses associated with the more mature E-learning communities. There are, of course, close links between E-learning and M-learning and it can be argued that they represent a continuum based on the deployment of ever-more sophisticated technologies. For innovation to have an effect, however, there must be distribution channels that provide access to end-users. This is where connectivity comes in and why the Internet is different. In other media, such as print, radio, cinema, music and television, the companies who own the distribution channels (publishers, radio and television networks, film studios, and the recording industry) control the content.