Online education or e-learning is a constantly evolving technology. Over the two decades since it was first introduced to the public, this wonder distance education technology, which has the potential to democratise and revolutionise teaching-learning, has experienced a dramatic metamorphosis. The first teaching-learning innovation of the IT (information technology) industry that flowered in the mid 1980s was computer based training (CBT) which enabled learners to use study materials stored on CD-ROMs. As internet penetration grew and broadband connectivity was invented at the turn of the century, web-based training (WBT) utilising digital content stored on CD-ROMs and giant servers facilitated interactive online learning.

Gonella L. and Panto E, researchers at CSP-ICT Innovation, Italy in their paper on e-learning (2008), have traced the following four stages in the evolution of online education which promises the most dramatic global knowledge explosion in world history since the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440.

1. Web-based training. This was pioneered in the early 1990s and was based on “online distribution of autonomously used learning materials”. The content comprised mainly of multimedia pages, which users would consult for information.

2. E-learning 1.0. The initial web-based training model evolved into ‘E-learning 1.0’. A newly-emergent online learning industry made a quantum leap when the first Learning Management Systems (LMS) software was developed to create, design and manage study programmes, as well as to support content delivery, user registration, monitoring and certification. The focus of LMS was on content delivery rather than learning. At this stage communication and collaboration between instructors and learners was minimal.

3. Online education. Since the E-learning 1.0 architecture made minimal provision for teacher-learner interaction, in the late 1990s educators began recommending a more active role for students in the teaching-learning process, and teachers began using simple technologies such as mailing lists and newsgroups to stimulate interaction. This spurred research into the development of web conferencing technologies. Web conferencing enabled rudimentary interaction and discussions among students, and for the first time ever, learning became a global social process.

4. E-learning 2.0. The global teaching-learning revolution pioneered by the IT industry was truly transformed when study programmes became fully interactive. User (student) contribution is no longer limited to newsgroups and mailing lists, and social software has revolutionised online learning. The birth of these technologies has resulted in the availability of an array of interactive services, which can be collectively termed ‘E-learning 2.0’.