ABSTRACT
Learning technologies continue to play an important enabling role in the transformation of teaching and learning in higher education. These technologies have become a catalyst to rethink the teaching and learning transaction. Educators are realizing that new and emerging communications technologies are radically changing the educational landscape in terms of connectivity and collaboration. They provide the means to create cohesive communities of learners independent of time and space. These technological innovations are not exotic or expensive; they are technologies that have permeated most segments of our increasingly connected society. The opportunity to connect instructors and students in a sustained manner has changed the expectations and approaches to teaching and learning. Information and communication technologies have created the opportunities
for shared cognition previously not possible. These technologies have made thinking and learning more accessible and effective through an alteration of the time and space dimensions. The result is that we are able to access information and connect with others at any time and in any location. The distributive and collaborative possibilities are transforming how we think about and approach learning. The theory and practice explored here is circumscribed by the ability of learning technologies to create and sustain discourse and precipitate reflection in purposeful communities of learners. In particular, it has been a catalyst in exploring and adopting collaborative approaches to thinking and learning-approaches that speak to the essence of critical and creative thinking and learning.
