As a comprehensive beginner’s guide to e-learning Derek Stockley’s e-journey on e-learning is impressive. Good links are also provided by Learning Light e-Learning Centre in their library section entitled ‘What is e-Learning?’

It never ceases to amaze me that stakeholders in education frequently make assumptions about the basic learning skills which we are all supposed to possess without anyone really explaining where the training to cement these skills in place is coming from in the first place. Therefore I find this multi-lingual site crucial as a basis for developing learning skills.

To get oriented I need to understand the environment I will be operating in.
What are the parameters?
These are useful:
Jeremy Hiebert and the PLE
Donald Darrow and the smart classroom LE
M.J. Stiles and Effective learning and the VLE

During the past couple of weeks I’ve been preparing myself to update my knowledge of the opportunities available in e-learning. In my searches I found an interesting free e-book from Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi at Athabasca which I’m working through at present: ‘Theory and Practice of Online Learning’.

There is also a useful WikiEd reading list on e-learning.

I notice that ‘protectionism’ is still alive and well in academia. If you are a non EU student you pay more to study in Europe and vice-versa outside Europe. So my search for an online masters in e-learning or its equivalent made me rule out a good programme at Athabasca. Because I need to pay myself I couldn’t afford the much higher fees. Within the EU the programmes at Ulster and Hull were attractive but the one closest to my needs was an MSc in e-Learning from Edinbugh starting for me in September I hope. What attracted me so much was the balance of the programme and the rich and varied background experience of the tutors.