ABSTRACT
Of all the design elements of an authentic e-learning course-indeed, of any learning design-it is the task that matters most.
A well-crafted task, and the activities students engage in to complete it, can enable and facilitate complex learning, and motivate and engage students in its execution. There has been a great deal written about authentic tasks and activities in recent times as the influences of constructivist philosophy and advances in technology impact on educational theory, research and development. As a result, the role of activities in courses of study has grown to the point where they are no longer relegated to the role of a vehicle for practice of a skill or process. A welldesigned task can be so much more than an opportunity for students to practice and apply their learning.
