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The Changing Nature of E-Learning Content

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Reshaping Learning

Part of the book series: New Frontiers of Educational Research ((NFER))

Abstract

In 1996 Bill Gates wrote an essay entitled “Content is King”. The title has persisted as a meme, but the nature of content and how it is created has changed significantly 1996. At that time, content was static and the Internet was just beginning to take hold as a channel that everyman could use to access and distribute content. Fifteen years later, in 2011, digital world is brimming with content, including increasing quantities user-generated content, mobile content, and dynamically changing content such as social media, news sites, and online games. Studies show that E-learning is to somewhat behind the curve in adopting new forms of content but it is nonetheless clear that the next generation of E-learning content will be more dynamic, context aware, immersive and mobile. A new set of standards and formats will be relevant and, at least in the short run, different and more technical skills will be required to produce it. More importantly, perhaps, E-learning content is experiencing a shift in underlying pedagogical theories from cognitive, instructive, and behaviorist to social, constructivist and connectivist. In these theories, it is context that is king. This chapter examines the characteristics of the first generation of E-learning content and discusses what might be expected from the next generation of E-learning content and how this will affect the processes used to create it.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eduworks Corporation, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Robby Robson

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  1. Robby Robson
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Correspondence to Robby Robson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Ronghuai Huang

  2. Faculty of Science and Technology, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada

    Kinshuk

  3. College of Information, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

    J. Michael Spector

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Robson, R. (2013). The Changing Nature of E-Learning Content. In: Huang, R., Kinshuk, Spector, J.M. (eds) Reshaping Learning. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32301-0_7

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