Modeling units of learning from a pedagogical perspective

The title of this chapter could have been: where is the learning in eLearning? The promise of eLearning, and the enabling learning technologies, is to make learning experiences in all types of settings more effective, efficient, attractive and accessible to the learners. In eLearning the Internet is used as the core medium for the delivery of information and the support of communication. Most people also think that the Internet, itself, as the key factor in the success of eLearning. However, a vast amount of research provides evidence for the proposition that it is not the medium (Internet), itself, which is accountable for the accomplishment of these promises, but the pedagogical design used in conjunction with the features of the medium (we refer to the classical medium discussions by Clark, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1999 and Kozma, 1991). The message is that we should concentrate on the quality of the pedagogical design and its relationship to the possibilities of the Internet if we want to accomplish the promises of eLearning.