ABSTRACT
Advancements in learning technologies are being driven from an increasing diversity of domains of practice and research. Through identifying the evolution of e-learning and its transformation to digital learning from various historical standpoints, this chapter highlights that contemporary development within the field of e-learning points to opportunities for technological innovation and practical implementation of e-learning that provides support and scaffolding for inquiry. Discussion is first focused on the issue of terminology and the broad semantics associated with e-learning. The fact that this term has been widely adopted and defined in diverse ways, however, is not necessarily an academic problem to be solved—certainly not here. One of the themes this chapter is concerned with is the broad range of semantics associated with the word open. In the latest edition of the Australian Macquarie Dictionary, for example, there are well over 80 different meanings listed. Such breadth also brings high utility.
