E-learning and its Future I so want to comment, but there isn't room. An excerpt tells the story:
From the old to the new:

• From education as a right, as an established system, to learning as a commodity, where the consumer can choose (and where the learning products increasingly can be purchased);
• From education which controls entry, which regulates availability, to learning for all, to deregulation;
• From education as a qualification or credential, to learning and skilling as a lifestyle; where instead of working your way through someone elses prepackaged information, you cherry pick from all the available courses to get the skills you need for the work you want to do; and
• From education as a scheduled activity, to learning any time, any place, any pace; what ever you need for as long as you want it and you only pay for what you use;
• From taking in content (studying), to making information, doing something with the resources, creating something new: a solution, process, methodology;
• From memory testing, to the demonstration of performance; it's not what you know (which has little value in itself) but what you can do with it: the value is not in the known but the new; and
• From competitive to collaborative practices; whereas the book, the essay, the exam, have all been isolated activities, the online and networked environment allows for a much greater degree of collaboration. More...